A Beautiful Curse
by MercenaryGrax
Summary: After Sasuke is inflicted with the Curse Mark in the Forest of Death, he undergoes an unexpected transformation. Now that he's been transformed into a girl, will life ever be the same? Fem. Sasuke
1. Challenge Guidelines

Okay, this is the second of the challenge fics I planned on doing out of the many challenges on my profile. The challenge guidelines are as follows:

_During the second stage of the Chunin Exams, after being given the curse mark by Orochimaru, it has an unforeseen side effect that nobody could have predicted, not even the Sannin himself. Whether this is because he got the seal wrong or because Sasuke's body rejected something within the seal, this will be up to the challenge taker to decide as the author._

_Now, while unconscious, Sasuke's body will undergo a change. While having been born a guy, Sasuke will be transformed into a girl because of this process. Upon waking up during the Sound Trio's attack, instead of the curse seal affecting Sasuke how it did in canon, it vanishes after Sasuke's transformation, leaving her permanently transformed into a girl with no way to return to her original gender._

_Confused by this sudden change, Sasuke will end up watching as Naruto deals with the Sound Trio in her stead. From this point on, Sasuke will have to get used to her new body and try to deal with her strange new feelings and hormones. It should be obvious that after some time around Naruto, she would begin to get uncomfortable, but at first she wouldn't understand why until somebody helps explain it to her. At first, Sasuke it likely to try and deny it, at least until she finally accepts it and approaches Naruto about her feelings._

_From that point, it's entirely up to you about how you want to take things from there. It should also be obvious that Sasuke, due to being free from the curse seal's influence, won't be going to Orochimaru. Sure, the Sound Four MAY try to kidnap her, but she wouldn't willingly join him._

_In essence, for the most part, you're free to do as you please with this challenge really aside from making sure to do the few things mentioned above. *nods*_

And that's the challenge. If you feel like taking the challenge on yourselves, or if you feel like taking on any of my other challenges, please feel free to. Just make sure you give me a link so I can read it!


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N - Okay, as you can see, this is the second challenge fic I decided to do based on a challenge I have listed on my profile. I'll say it now that this chapter isn't that great. At least I don't think so. I was having the HARDEST time coming up with ideas for the various scenes. But then again, I wrote this while having a MONSTER of a migraine. I get some debilitating migraines that mess a great deal with my ability to think straight and concentrate. It doesn't help that I'm feeling really sick right now. Between this migraine and the nausea I'm experiencing, I just didn't do too well on this chapter.**

**Anyways, this will be a harem fic. You'll see the first girl in this chapter. Fem. Sasuke will join his harem as well, but not right away. She needs to get used to being a girl and she needs to gradually develop feelings for our blonde hero. So yeaaaah.**

**Anywho, despite the fact that I don't like how this turned out, I hope you all enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 1 - A Stunning Transformation**

_What happened to me?_ A young male thought as he drifted through a sea of blackness. Nothing was visible in any direction. It was just empty darkness and it was starting to send chills down the onyx-eyed boy's spine. Looking around, he began walking in a random direction, hoping he'd find something, _anything_ that could help him make sense of what was happening to him.

Then his memories began to come back to him. _That's right. We were fighting that lady from Kusagakure. But...wait…_ Clutching at his head, Sasuke groaned in discomfort. _It was Orochimaru of the Sannin. I remember that much. But...what was that pain I felt? Did he _bite_ me?_ Yes, this young man was _very_ lost and confused.

It was then that Sasuke saw a strange light in the distance. The color was slightly distorted, but he could make out shapes and sounds the closer he grew to the light. Upon reaching the light, he could see that the area beyond it was filled with all kinds of bright colors ranging from light pink to a neon green color. Stepping forward into the light, he was forced to shut his eyes as the light brightened considerably and blinded him.

When the light died down, Sasuke looked around at his surroundings. The room he was in looked like his room back in the Uchiha Compound. However, it was also _very_ different. Whereas his room was dull and practically barren of life, this room was bright, well lit, and most importantly, _girly_. "What the hell is all this?" he asked, only for the voice he just heard to sound nothing like him. He imagined that if he was a girl, this is what he would sound like though.

Looking down at his hands, Sasuke could see that his fingernails were painted, but more than that, they were very feminine in appearance. The real thing that got to him though were the large mounds attached to his chest. When he reached downwards to check and see if his 'package' was still there, he felt nothing at all. No bulge of any kind, no ball sack, no penis, _nothing_! Instead, when he brushed his crotch, he let out a sultry-sounding moan.

_Oh Kami! What the hell is going on here?! I'm a guy damn it! I'm not some weird girl!_ He thought, clearly frightened by what was taking place. However, before he could make sense of it, he suddenly collapsed to the ground, all the strength leaving his body as he lost consciousness. _What's...going on…?_

_**Forest of Death**_

As Sasuke slowly opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that he no longer felt any kind of pain. Rubbing the area where Orochimaru had bit him, he felt nothing out of the ordinary. _Thank Kami. I thought for sure that weirdo did something to me._

It was then that he sat up and felt a certain something, or rather _two_ somethings, jiggling on his chest. Looking down, Sasuke saw that he now had breasts. Eyes widening in horror, he reached down to his crotch and patted it a couple of times just to be extra sure of what he was feeling, or rather what he _wasn't_ feeling. "No. No no no no no. This can't be happening! I must still be dreaming. That's right. Maybe if I pinch myself… Ow!" Sasuke exclaimed as _she_ pinched her arm hard. "Okay...I'm not dreaming. What the hell did that freak do to me?!"

As Sasuke began to hyperventilate, Naruto soon came to as well and noticed immediately that Sakura and the others in the clearing were in danger. Without wasting a second, the blonde knucklehead disappeared from his spot and began to fight the Oto genin. Despite his weakened state, Naruto was still making short work of them, thankfully. It seemed that his training was really paying off, which was a good thing, especially considering the state Sasuke was currently in.

When Sasuke heard a familiar voice speaking to her, she looked to see Sakura looking at her in concern. "Sasuke-kun? What in the world happened to you? You're...you're a _girl_! Did that seal do this to you?!" she exclaimed as she moved closer to Sasuke. "Wait, the seal's gone! That's weird. Do you feel okay Sasuke-kun?"

The young, black-haired teen shook her head and began to cry. "No, I don't feel okay Sakura! This is all wrong! I'm supposed to be a guy, but now I'm a girl and it doesn't make any sense to me! And what is with these _things_ on my chest?! They're big and in the way! I don't like it!" she exclaimed, clearly _very_ upset.

Sakura hugged Sasuke close and began to gently run her fingers through her fellow girl's hair to try and soothe her. "I don't understand it either Sasuke-kun. But I'm here for you, no matter what. Okay? And…" The pinkette blushed as she poked one of Sasuke's breasts, causing the black-haired girl's body to shiver. "Those are called breasts, and from the size of them, I'd say you're probably a high C-cup. I wish mine were that big."

Sasuke scowled at her teammate. "Is now _really_ the time to be admiring my breasts?! Oh Kami, I have breasts! What the fuck?!" Reaching up, Sasuke cupped her breasts and released a soft moan before quickly dropping them. "What the hell was that?!"

The pinkette sweatdropped and patted Sasuke on the back. "Umm...I should probably warn you that breasts tend to be sensitive. As you just found out. But yours appear to be extra sensitive for some reason. I hate to say it Sasuke-kun, but if you're stuck as a girl now, you're going to have to get used to them."

It was at this point that they heard a loud screech and turned to see Ino standing at the entrance to the hollow, staring at the transformed Sasuke in horror. "Sasuke-kun?! No...this can't be happening. How am I supposed to help you restore your clan if you're a _girl_?! This can't be happening!"

The fourteen year-old Uchiha glared at Ino for that comment. "Really? _That's_ what you're worried about? Ugh." Sighing softly, Sasuke slowly stood to her feet and looked past her to see how Naruto was doing. "Huh, so the dobe took them all out huh? Not bad."

Sakura blinked a couple of times as she tried to process what was happening. Sasuke, the guy, er, _girl_ that was a total badass was sitting with her while Naruto, this pathetic jerk (at least in her mind) had just taken care of the foes she had been trying to protect the two of them from all this time. It just didn't make sense to her! Everything that was right in her world was crashing down all around her and she didn't know what the hell to think anymore!

"Hand over your scroll and you can leave." they heard Naruto say. "I don't want to have to kill any of you, but in order to protect those dear to me, I will. So leave your scroll and get lost."

Sasuke stepped up next to Naruto and frowned down at the defeated Oto genin. "You sure about this dobe? What if they try to get revenge on us later? We should deal with them now while we have the chance."

Before Naruto could say anything in reply, Kin, the Oto kunoichi, spoke up. "Why _are_ you being kind to us? I don't get it. We just tried to kill you and your team!"

Naruto frowned at this and shook his head. "Because, unlike most, I believe in the concept of mercy. I also believe in the concept of paying it forward. If I just go around killing every enemy I meet, they might never get the chance to do the right thing and change their ways. And if even one of you has a change of heart and decides to do something to better yourself? Well, I'd call that a win."

Dosu scoffed. "Well you're a naive fool then. We're not going to change just because you let us go. We have orders to kill Sasuke, and we're not going to just give up on that."

The blonde sighed and shook his head in disappointment. "I'd say you've already failed in your mission. If your leader is who I think it is, then you're in some serious trouble. Do you really think he'd forgive you for such a failure? Or rather, do you _really_ think he sent you here to kill Sasuke?"

Zaku was the one to speak up this time. "What the fuck are you talking about? When Orochimaru-sama gives an order, we don't question it! We just comply! He wanted us to kill Sasuke, so that's what we're here to do."

Sighing again, Naruto shook his head once more before he resumed speaking. "You're clearly not the smart one in the bunch of you, are you? What about you Mummy-san? Have you figured it out yet?"

Dosu frowned and furrowed his brow in thought. However, before he could respond, Kin spoke up. "Wait…" Looking at Sasuke, she frowned deeply. "He gave you his curse mark, didn't he? We weren't sent here to _kill_ Sasuke. We were sent as a test for Sasuke's curse mark! We were meant to _die_!"

Naruto nodded his head in affirmation of her statement. "I'd say you're probably right about that. But I don't think Orochimaru meant for Sasuke to, well...turn into a girl." the whiskered fourteen year-old said as he got a good look at Sasuke's new body. "Yeaaah, I think Orochimaru fucked up whatever he tried to do to Sasuke."

"I'll say." Kin said as she got a good look at the new Sasuke. After a moment though, she shook her head and walked up to Naruto, handing him her team's scroll. Thinking on it for a moment, the Oto kunoichi leaned in and pressed her lips to Naruto's cheek. "Thank you. For being so nice." And with that being said, she hopped into the trees and left the area, leaving her teammates behind.

As Naruto blushed and touched his cheek, Sasuke couldn't help but scowl. "Mind out of the gutter Naruto." she said, trying to snap her teammate out of it. "We've still got an exam to finish after all."

Nodding slowly, Naruto focused his gaze on the remaining two Oto genin. "So what will the two of you do?" he questioned curiously.

"None of your damn business." Zaku spat out before he got to his feet and proceeded to help Dosu up as well. "I still say you should have killed us when you had the chance."

"Maybe so. But I stand by my decision. Now get lost."

Scoffing, Zaku soon left the clearing with Dosu following right behind him. Once they were gone, Naruto turned to face the other Konoha genin with a smile. "Thanks for helping us out guys."

Shikamaru shrugged, but offered him a lazy smile. "No problem Naruto. We're fellow Konoha genin, but more importantly, you're a friend. We weren't about to leave you guys to die at their hands." Choji nodded along with what his best friend had said before he popped a few chips in his mouth.

Lee looked at Naruto and gave him a thumbs up and a bright smile. "That was a most youthful fight Naruto-kun! Hopefully we get to see you and your team in the final exam." he said before he leapt off with his teammates.

Sasuke turned to Naruto and said, "We still need the other scroll Naruto. We should get going if we want to have any hope of making it through this exam."

The whiskered blonde looked at Sasuke and frowned as he motioned towards her body. "Are you sure you're feeling up to it Sasuke? I mean...look at you! You're a hot girl now! Don't you need to take some time to get used to this new you first?"

The raven-haired Uchiha shook her head. "Right now I'm more concerned with passing this exam. I don't know about you, but I want to earn the rank of Chunin. Even if I'm stuck like this for the rest of my life, I'll still become strong enough to kill Itachi and avenge my clan. After that, well...I hope to restore my clan, even if it has to be as a woman. I'd prefer to become a man again, but I'm determined to see my goals through no matter what."

"Well, regardless of what happens or if you can't return to your natural gender, I'll still help you Sasuke. We're teammates and friends, right?" Naruto asked with a kind smile on his face.

The female Uchiha found herself blushing a bit as she slowly nodded her head. "Y-yeah. Thanks Naruto."

Smiling at his friend, Naruto patted Sasuke on the shoulder gently before he turned to Sakura. "Sakura-chan, we need to get going."

The pink-haired teen nodded slowly and thanked Ino for fixing up her hair. Afterwards, she joined her teammates and said, "I'm ready. Let's go."

"See you guys in the final exam." Naruto said before he and his team hopped off in search of another team that they could battle. As they went along, Naruto was focusing his senses in an attempt to locate a team faster.

One of the things that his teammates and sensei never seemed to appreciate was the fact that Naruto was a sensor. He could easily pick out another person from hundreds of feet away. Right now, however, he was more focused on a team that seemed to be lying in wait to ambush those that got too close to their location by the tower. Motioning for his teammates to stop, he pointed ahead of them, into a rather dark section of the forest. "There's a team waiting just up there. I know you'd prefer to make the plans Sasuke, so what do you want to do?"

Sasuke frowned as she thought about it. "Where exactly are they Naruto?"

Naruto pointed out three spots higher up in the trees. "There, there, and there. They're above us right now, but I think if we split up and sneak up behind them, we might be able to take them out and collect their scroll. The problem is, we don't know the extent of their abilities or even who they are."

"Who they are doesn't matter. Everyone is to be treated like an enemy in these exams Naruto. Now, let's split up and take these three down." Sasuke said before he took off to sneak around behind her chosen target.

Sighing, Naruto rubbed the back of his head and nodded. "She has a point." he said, though the fact that he now had to refer to Sasuke as a 'she' was a bit disturbing. "Sakura-chan," he looked at Sakura and pointed off towards one of the remaining two targets, "you take that one. I'll get the other one." he said before hopping off.

Left alone, Sakura fidgeted nervously for a moment before she steeled her resolve and hopped off to go and deal with her opponent. _I hope I don't screw this up somehow…_

_**Later**_

"Damn. I can't believe our luck. They didn't have the right scroll!" Naruto exclaimed out of frustration. "Now what-?" Before he could finish his sentence, they heard a scream coming from nearby. Looking at one another, the party of three dashed off in that direction to see what was going on.

Upon reaching the area where the scream originated from, they spotted a redheaded girl under attack by a rather large bear. Without waiting for his teammates, Naruto leapt down and kicked the bear hard in the side of its head right as it was charging towards the glasses-wearing girl.

When the bear's neck snapped from the force behind Naruto's kick, he breathed a sigh of relief. He was having a hard time manipulating his chakra ever since that seal was placed on him, so he wasn't sure if he could have fought such a powerful creature on even footing.

Naruto was caught off guard when the girl he had just rescued glomped him, hugging him tight. "Thank you! I thought I was a goner for sure! How can I ever repay you?"

Blushing a bit, Naruto hugged the girl back and began to gently rub her back to try and soothe her. "You're okay now. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. What's yours?"

The girl blinked in shock at that before looking into his eyes. "Uzumaki? Really? My name is Karin Uzumaki! I didn't think I'd ever find another Uzumaki!"

Sakura and Sasuke dropped down next to them. Sakura asked, "Are you two related in some way? I didn't know there were other Uzumaki's out there."

Karin looked confused. "You mean you didn't know that the Uzumaki's are a clan? Our people had their own village and were renowned as masters of fuinjutsu before they were wiped out. I'm sure there's more of us out there, but I don't know where they could be."

"I...have a clan? How come nobody ever told me about this?" Naruto wondered aloud.

The redhead frowned at this. "That's unusual. The Uzumaki's were allied with Konohagakure before they were wiped out. You should have learned about them in the academy…" A thought came to her mind then and she looked at her clanmate with a serious scowl on her face. "They removed that lesson, didn't they? Why would they do that, unless they were trying to cover something up?"

The blonde Uzumaki teenager frowned at this and nodded his head in agreement. "I see where you're going with this. And it sounds like Konoha was involved in the extermination of our clan. I don't like it, but it sounds plausible…"

Sakura frowned and looked at her teammate. "Why would Konoha try to kill off one of its own allies Naruto? There's no way they're involved in something like that! To even think otherwise makes me question your loyalty to Konoha!"

Naruto frowned at her and shook his head. "Sakura-chan, you have no idea what this village has put me through. If you had to go through everything I've been through, you might find that you don't exactly feel loyal to such a village. And I'd like to say I'm loyal to the Hokage, but it's obvious he's been lying to me all my life. Therefore, it's hard to place my trust in such a person. So yes, I don't feel very loyal to the village. If you have a problem with that, then tough."

Sasuke found herself frowning as well. If they had swept that under the rug, what else were they hiding? "I...understand your point of view Naruto. And I have to agree with you too. That _is_ suspicious. It makes me wonder if there's more to the massacre of my clan that I don't know about."

"You can't mean that Sasuke-kun?" Sakura questioned. She was shocked that both of her teammates would suspect Konoha of such things. The pinkette wasn't sure if she should report this to the Hokage or not. She was afraid that her precious Sasuke-kun would be in trouble if she reported it.

"I do mean it Sakura. I've always wondered about that night. How could I not? I want the truth behind what happened. However, I still plan to kill Itachi for his actions that night. I can never forgive him for killing everyone the way he did."

As Sakura frowned, unable to come to terms with what she was hearing, Naruto nodded his head in agreement with Sasuke. "I promise I'll help you Sasuke. Whether it's helping to find out the truth or even avenging your clan by killing Itachi, I'll do whatever I can to help you with it."

"Naruto-kun?" Karin asked, getting his attention. Gently taking his hand, she placed her team's scroll in the palm of his hand. "Here. It's my team's scroll. There's no point in me keeping it any longer. And...I really hope we can see each other again." she said with a smile and a small blush on her face.

The blonde smiled at her and placed his free hand on her shoulder. "I know you're affiliated with another village, but...maybe you'd think about staying here in Konoha with me? I'd love to learn more about you and about our clan."

"You...want me to stay with you? But we just met! Are you absolutely sure about that?"

Naruto smiled at Karin and hugged her again. "Of course I'm sure. You and I are from the same clan. We should stick together."

Karin couldn't help but smile as she hugged her clanmate back. "That sounds wonderful. Of course I'll stay with you. I'm looking forward to getting to know each other better. And I'll gladly teach you all I can about our clan. I bet I could even teach you a thing or two about fuinjutsu too!"

The blonde couldn't help but smile at her. "Thank you Karin-chan. I'm looking forward to it." Looking down at the scroll in his hand, he smiled and turned to his team. "Looks like we've got the scrolls we needed. Ready to head to the tower?"

Sasuke and Sakura both nodded. Smiling at them, he hopped off with the others following right behind him. It was time to finish this stage of the exams.

_**Hokage's Office**_

Kin Tsuchi had left her teammates behind and journeyed to the edge of the Forest of Death, where she informed one of the Chunin nearby that she needed to speak with the Hokage. They let her out and escorted her to meet with the Sandaime Hokage in his office.

Now that she was sitting in a chair across from the Hokage, the black-haired kunoichi couldn't help but fidget nervously. What she was about to do was dangerous, but she felt this was the right thing to do, especially after that kind boy treated her with such kindness.

"May I ask what you needed to speak with me about Kin? There must be something important on your mind if you needed to see me so urgently." Hiruzen said as he looked into the young woman's eyes.

Nodding her head, Kin looked into the Hokage's eyes and took a deep breath. "Yes Hokage-sama. As you know, I'm from the village of Otogakure. Umm...I don't know if you know this or not, but Orochimaru is the leader of that village. He's planning to attack Konoha during the final stage of the Chunin Exams. More importantly, he wants to kill _you_. I don't know the details of his plan or anything special like that though. I just wanted to warn you that he's planning an invasion and that you need to be careful."

"I see." the Sandaime Hokage said. "Thank you for bringing this information to me Kin. This could not have been an easy decision for you, and I'm sure you understand the kind of danger you've put yourself in by coming to me. What made you decide to do this I wonder?"

The black-haired teenager blushed a bit and looked down. "Um, it was that boy, the one with the whiskers. Naruto-kun, I think his name was. He was kind to me when no one else was. I just...wanted to repay his kindness in some way."

"I see. Well, he does have that effect on people. I'm glad you came forward with this information Kin. I'll grant you asylum within my village. I'll try to find you proper housing, and I'll grant you the protection you need now that you've betrayed Orochimaru. It's almost certain he'll be out to get you now."

Kin blushed a bit more as she looked into the Hokage's eyes. "Could I maybe...stay with Naruto-kun? At least for a little while?"

Hiruzen frowned in thought for a moment before shaking his head. "He doesn't have enough room in his apartment for that. But, I do have an idea. I'll need to talk with Naruto-kun first, but for now, you can stay in the apartment next to his. I'll ensure that you're protected at all times, so you should have no reason to worry." he promised.

"Thank you Hokage-sama. I truly appreciate it. And...I'm looking forward to getting to know Naruto-kun better." she said honestly.

_Naruto m'boy, you sure are a lucky young man._ Hiruzen thought, finding the whole situation to be quite amusing.

_**Forest of Death - Tower**_

Upon arriving at the tower, Team 7 had easily solved the riddle and watched as Iruka was summoned through the scrolls. When he saw Karin with them, Iruka was initially confused, but he quickly shrugged it off and explained the meaning of the riddle to them. After he had finished speaking, Naruto said, "Iruka-sensei, I need to see the Hokage. It's important."

Frowning at this, the chunin instructor nodded slowly. "Alright Naruto-kun, I'll inform Hokage-sama that you need to see him right away. Expect a visit from him soon. For now, go find your room and rest. I'm sure you've been through quite a lot already." he said before disappearing in a Body Flicker to quickly make his way to the Hokage tower.

After Team 7 found their room, Naruto decided to explore the tower with Karin while Sakura opted to stay with Sasuke. Once the two Uzumaki's had left the room, Sakura turned to face Sasuke and said, "Sasuke-kun? How are you feeling?"

Sasuke sighed and shook his head. "Honestly? I have no idea how I'm supposed to be feeling right now. I'm glad we got through the second stage of the exams, but at the same time...well, _look_ at me. I'm a girl now and I'm fearful that I'll never be able to return to my original gender! How am I supposed to restore my clan like this?"

Sakura found herself blushing and looked away from him. "Sasuke-kun...you can still restore your clan. It would just be in a, erm..._different_ way. A way I can't help you with anymore."

When Sasuke realized what Sakura was implying, she blushed _deeply_ and buried her face in her hands. "Oh Kami! That's freaky as hell to think about!"

Sakura could only nod in agreement with her teammate. "If it helps any, I'll be here to support you every step of the way. No matter what happens, you'll always have me."

Sasuke could only nod in thanks for that before she laid back on the bed, resting her head against her pillow. "Thanks Sakura. Wait…" something came forward in her mind, a memory of something Naruto said in the Forest of Death. "Did Naruto call me _hot_? Is he attracted to me?"

The pinkette blinked at that before she put a finger to her chin and tried to remember that experience. After a moment, she blushed and nodded her head. "He did. And if he called you 'hot', I'd assume that means he finds you attractive, yes. That's just freaky to think about though." Sasuke could only nod in agreement as she closed her eyes to try and get some rest.

_**Naruto & Karin**_

"Sooo…" Karin drawled on, "what happened to that Sasuke guy anyways? I couldn't help but notice that he's a girl now. Something big must have happened to change him like that."

Naruto chuckled a bit and scratched at the back of his head. "To be honest, I have no idea. Orochimaru did something to him and then, well..._that_! He's been turned into a hot girl and it's kinda freaking me out a bit."

"_Hot_ girl? Attracted to your teammate, are you? How _interesting_." Karin teased. When Naruto made a disgusted face, the redhead couldn't help but giggle cutely. "I'm only teasing you Naruto-kun. Besides, I know you're more attracted to me." she teased with a wink.

Naruto blushed at that and scratched at the tip of his nose. "Well, you _are_ attractive Karin-chan. That, and you're really nice. How could I _not_ be attracted to you?"

Blushing a deep shade of red, Karin looked away before she shyly reached over and took Naruto's hand in hers. "T-thank you Naruto-kun. You're very sweet." she said.

The blonde couldn't help but continue blushing as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Thank you. And you're welcome. I really am looking forward to spending more time with you Karin-chan. You're an interesting person and I want to learn all I can about you."

Karin couldn't help but blush a bit more and giggle to herself. "You really are very sweet, aren't you Naruto-kun? I bet you've got a wonderful girlfriend, don't you?"

Naruto sighed and shook his head. "Nope. I wanted Sakura-chan...but she wants nothing to do with me. I don't think anyone would ever want to be with me. At least not in this village." he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm used to it though. It sucks, but what can I really do?"

The glasses-wearing kunoichi frowned and turned to her clanmate. Taking a moment to think on it, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Well, if no one in the village is interested in you, then they're fools. You're a good person and I think you'd make quite the catch. Maybe...maybe you should look for someone not from your village instead. You never know who might take an interest in you Naruto-kun." she said honestly.

Naruto blushed at her actions and her kind words. Looking at his redheaded friend, Naruto couldn't help but give her a warm smile. "You know...maybe you're right. Thank you Karin-chan."

As Karin went to say something in response, they heard somebody speaking to them from behind. "Ah, there you are Naruto-kun. I've been looking for you."

Turning around, the Uzumaki duo spotted the Sandaime Hokage and Kakashi Hatake walking towards them. Naruto was so tempted to scowl at the both of them and curse them to hell, but he refrained from doing so. The Sandaime had been lying to him all his life, and that didn't exactly earn him any points in Naruto's book. Kakashi, on the other hand, was a lazy jackass that didn't take training his genin team seriously. And yet he had signed them up for these exams, expecting them to make it through on guts alone practically! If Naruto hadn't trained on his own and pushed himself so hard, he doubted he would have survived this long.

Still, despite everything, Naruto had some things he needed to discuss with the Sandaime. "Hokage-sama." he said respectfully. "My team encountered Orochimaru in the Forest of Death. He beat us quite easily before placing a curse of some kind on Sasuke. On top of that, he used some kind of seal on me that's screwing with my chakra control. Here, take a look." Naruto said as he lifted up his shirt and revealed his seal to the Hokage. "Think you can help me out Hokage-sama?"

Frowning at the seal before him, the Sandaime walked forward and prepared to remove the extra seal that had been placed on Naruto. "This is going to hurt a bit Naruto-kun, so prepare yourself." he warned before he slammed his fingers into Naruto's gut and made a twisting motion, almost as if he was unlocking something.

When the extra seal disappeared, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he felt unrestricted access to his chakra again. "Thanks Hokage-sama." he said gratefully. "Now, as for Sasuke...whatever seal was used on him is gone. But...he's been transformed into a girl. I don't know if it's permanent or what, but I don't think Orochimaru meant for that to happen. It's very strange."

Kakashi's visible eyebrow rose, showing his curiosity about the situation. The Sandaime, on the other hand, was far more concerned by what he had just heard. "Naruto-kun, take me to your room. I need to see this for myself."

"As you wish Hokage-sama." Naruto said, shrugging his shoulders as he and Karin walked ahead of the Hokage, their hands still linked together.

When Kakashi noticed this, he couldn't help but smirk to himself. _Looks like Naruto-kun's found himself a little girlfriend. How cute._

After a short while, they arrived at Team 7's room and entered. Naruto and Karin sat side by side on one of the beds while the Sandaime and Kakashi remained standing, simply staring at Sasuke in shock. "So you really _have_ been turned into a girl. Huh, that's pretty strange." Kakashi said in amusement.

As Sasuke scowled at Kakashi, the Sandaime approached Sasuke and began to look him over with a curious gaze. "Hmm, where were you marked Sasuke?"

The Uchiha sighed and reached up to point at where Orochimaru had bit him. "Right here. But nothing's there now. So what do you think Hokage-sama? Am I going to be stuck like this for the rest of my life?"

Hiruzen looked at the area Sasuke pointed to and frowned. There was no seal there. The damn thing had disappeared! Looking into the young woman's eyes, the Hokage frowned and shook his head. "I don't know for sure Sasuke, but if I had to fathom a guess? Yes, you're stuck like this. I don't think there is a way to change you back. Whatever happened with the curse seal has caused you to fully transform into a woman. I'm sorry. I wish I had better news for you Sasuke. If it helps, I can have Jiraiya-kun have a look at you the next time he's in the village?"

"I would really appreciate that Hokage-sama." Sasuke said, sounding awfully depressed about her situation. "But if I'm stuck like this, I _really_ want Orochimaru to pay for it. This isn't how I pictured my life going. I mean, just look at me! I've got these big breasts now and I don't have my penis anymore! Instead it's all changed and I'm not sure how any of this works! I don't know what a girl is supposed to act like or anything either! So I'm confused and freaking out and I don't like it."

Karin frowned at Sasuke. "There's no reason to worry about how to act Sasuke-san. Just be yourself. It's okay if you don't act like a 'typical' girl. We're all different and there's no one right way to act. As for your breasts...you might want to look into getting some comfortable bras, because those are going to end up hurting your back if you don't get some support for them."

The raven-haired Uchiha went wide-eyed and shivered. "A bra? Oh Kami, I have to wear a bra?! What about underwear? And do I have to dress like a girl too?"

Hiruzen sighed and patted Sasuke's shoulder gently. "It might be more comfortable for you if you did. I'm sorry to say it Sasuke, but if you're stuck like this, you might as well get used to it rather than fight it."

When Sasuke began to cry seconds later, Naruto got up and walked over to his friend and wrapped her up in a hug. It was awkward, especially when Sasuke buried her face in his chest and just sobbed, but he just continued to hold her until she eventually cried herself to sleep in his arms. Laying her down on her bed and tucking her in, Naruto released a soft sigh and looked at the Hokage. "She's been through a lot. I'm certain she'll be fine for the final exam though. Just need to give her some time."

Nodding his head in understanding, Hiruzen looked at Naruto for a moment before releasing a sigh. "Naruto-kun, after the next stage of the exams, we need to have a talk. It's about something rather important."

"Alright. That sounds like a good idea to me. I had something else I wanted to talk to you about too, so that works for me." Naruto said.

Hiruzen was curious to learn what it was Naruto wanted to talk to him about, but decided to shrug it off for now. Turning to face Karin at this point, the Sandaime raised a curious brow and asked, "And who might you be young lady? I would have figured you'd be with your team."

Karin frowned and shook her head sadly. "My teammates were killed in the forest, Hokage-sama. I'm the only one left. Naruto-kun saved me and I've decided to stay with him. After all, we're from the same clan. We should stick together, right?" she asked, looking hard into the Hokage's eyes, as if daring him to say something to the contrary.

Hiruzen's and Kakashi's eyes widened at hearing this. Looking into one another's eyes, the two of them quickly realized that this is probably what Naruto wanted to talk to them about. _What are the odds that he would have run into another Uzumaki in these exams? Damn._ Hiruzen thought. _I was hoping to keep him in the dark about his clan for a little while longer. Now he'll have questions and I don't know how I'll answer them. His trust in me must be wavering now…_

Kakashi spoke up at this point. "So you're a member of the Uzumaki clan, are you? Well, it's nice to meet you." he said, though Naruto and Karin could both sense he was lying about that. "However, you should know you can't move on in the exams without your team."

The redhead shook her head at that. "I know that. That's not why I'm still here. I've decided that I'm staying with Naruto-kun here in the village. You two don't have a problem with that, _do you_?"

The silver-haired jonin sweatdropped as he looked to the Hokage for an answer. Hiruzen sighed and shook his head. "No. There's no problem. You're more than welcome to stay. I've been meaning to talk to Naruto-kun about this anyways." he said. However, Naruto narrowed his eyes in suspicion and shook his head sadly. It was obvious to the young man that Hiruzen would have continued to hide his heritage from him for a while longer if he had been given the chance to.

Karin frowned before she looked at her clanmate. Seeing his look of disappointment, she couldn't help but feel for him. _They really didn't want you to know, did they Naruto-kun?_ She thought sadly. Turning to the Hokage, she offered him a fake smile and said, "Thank you Hokage-sama. I'm looking forward to my new life in Konoha."

Hiruzen nodded his head slowly. "Good to hear. I have to get going now though. It was nice meeting you Karin." he said before leaving the room.

Kakashi looked between Naruto and Karin for a moment before releasing a sigh and leaving the room without saying a word.

Once they were gone, Karin asked, "Wow. They _really_ didn't want you to know about your heritage, did they?"

Before Naruto could reply, Sakura frowned and asked, "Why do you say that? It sounds to me like he was going to tell Naruto about it soon."

The blonde shook his head. "No Sakura, he was lying. He never planned to tell me. You can't sense it, but it's easy for me to tell when someone's lying to me. Hokage-sama wanted to keep me in the dark for as long as possible. I'm sure he would have preferred that I _never_ find out the truth."

"There you go again, speaking as if they're out to get you or something. Why can't you just accept that he's only trying to do what's best?" Sakura questioned irritably.

Both Uzumaki's scowled at Sakura and shook their heads in disgust. "How is keeping Naruto-kun in the dark what's _best_ for him? He deserves to know the truth about who he is and what his clan was capable of! Imagine if you were in his position. Wouldn't you want to know about your heritage? To know that you had people out there like you?"

Before Sakura could respond, Naruto continued from where Karin left off. "Imagine if you were in my shoes Sakura. No family, no parents to raise you, no one wanting anything to do with you…" Sighing, he shook his head sadly. "You ask the Hokage numerous times if he's learned anything about your family, and he _lies_ to you every time, saying he doesn't know who your parents were or even if you have any living relatives out there. He lies to you, making you think you were just another clanless orphan that nobody wanted to adopt. And...he lies to you about a big secret that involves you and why you're hated by everybody in the village. Imagine having to find out the truth from a traitor to the village that wanted to _kill_ you simply for being what you are. How would you feel if you were in my shoes?"

Sakura frowned at this and shook her head in disbelief. "Have you ever thought that maybe, just _maybe_, he really doesn't know who your parents are? And what's this 'big secret' you're talking about? It can't be anything _that_ bad."

Karin scoffed and shook her head in disgust. "Of course he knows who Naruto-kun's parents are. The fact that you're trying to blind yourself to all of his wrongdoings regarding Naruto-kun sickens me."

The pinkette scowled at Karin. "I'm not blinding myself to anything! Hokage-sama would never do the things you're claiming he's done!"

Without a word, Naruto stood up from his bed and left the room, feeling absolutely _furious_ with the pink-haired _bitch_. However, stopping just outside the room, he glared over his shoulder at his teammate. "I'm finding another room to rest in. _Away_ from you. I want _nothing_ to do with you anymore." he said angrily before storming off to find another room _away_ from his pink-haired teammate.

Karin sighed and shook her head in disbelief. "You're hopeless." she said before leaving the room to follow after her clanmate. Upon catching up to him, she gently grabbed his hand and gave it a light squeeze. "Are you going to be okay Naruto-kun?"

Naruto released a soft sigh and shook his head. "Can't believe I had a crush on her for so long. She really doesn't think much of me, does she?"

The redhead frowned at that. "I'm sorry she was like that to you. You'd be better off without her. You deserve someone far better than her Naruto-kun."

The whiskered fourteen year-old smiled at Karin and turned to face her. "Thank you Karin-chan. I appreciate that. But like I said before, I just can't see anyone being interested in me like that."

Frowning at him, Karin took a moment to think on what she should say or do to help her clanmate. After a moment, she sighed and leaned in, capturing his lips with hers in a sweet, loving kiss. When they parted, they were both blushing quite a bit. "Well, if no one else can see how wonderful you are, then maybe _I'll_ take you for myself." she said with a wink.

Blush prominent on his face, Naruto was having a hard time looking into her eyes. "T-thank you Karin-chan. You're a really great person, you know that?"

She grinned and nodded her head. "Of course I am! But thank you Naruto-kun. And just so you know, I _am_ serious. If nobody else wants you, then I'll snatch you up for myself."

Chuckling a bit, Naruto looked into her eyes for a moment before he captured her lips with his in another kiss. When they parted this time, Naruto smiled softly at her. "I think I'd like that." he admitted honestly.

Karin giggled happily and would have said something more to him, but someone spoke to them, catching them by surprise. "Heh, so the dobe's got himself a girlfriend, huh? Must be desperate to go after that loser."

Turning to see who it was, Naruto groaned. "Kiba. Why do you have to be such a jerk all the time?"

The redhead glared at the annoying bastard that interrupted her time with Naruto. "And who the hell are you calling _desperate_?! Naruto-kun's a great guy and he's cute too! That's more than I can say for _you_."

Kiba barked out a laugh and said, "He's a _loser_! Worst in our graduating class, his skills are pathetic, there's nothing special about him. And _cute_? Ha! That's rich."

Hinata, who was hanging back with Shino, sighed and shook her head in disappointment. "K-Kiba, just because Naruto barely p-passed doesn't mean that he hasn't improved since graduation. He's p-probably a lot s-stronger by now. Besides, y-you shouldn't badmouth a f-fellow Konoha shinobi like that."

The teenage Inuzuka scoffed at that. "I highly doubt he's improved any. Once a loser, _always_ a loser. It's amazing he hasn't gotten his team killed with his incompetence by now."

Naruto clenched his fists tight and would have taken a swing at Kiba if Karin hadn't grabbed one of his hands again and squeezed it gently to show her support. "Let's just go Naruto-kun."

Sighing, the young blonde nodded before he began walking off with Karin. However, something Kiba said next caused him to pause. "Awww, did I strike a nerve? You're pathetic, needing a girl to save you like that."

Scowling at this, Naruto shot a nasty glare over his shoulder and said, "You'd better hope we don't face each other in the upcoming exam _Kiba_. I promise you that if you have to fight me, I'll _destroy_ you." And with that being said, Naruto resumed walking away, holding hands with Karin.

"Tch. Like he could _ever_ defeat me." Kiba said. "But fine, if he wants a fight, he's got one."

"K-Kiba...you really s-shouldn't underestimate Naruto-kun like t-that. Besides, w-why do you feel the n-need to insult him like that?" Hinata questioned disappointedly.

"Because he's a loser! He should _never_ have become a ninja. Someone like that, without any skills or anything special to his name, can _never_ amount to anything! I wouldn't be surprised if he gets himself and his team killed soon enough."

Shino sighed and shook his head in disappointment. "You really are a hopeless fool Kiba-san." he said quietly as they walked off to find their room.

Before following after her teammates, Hinata glanced in the direction Naruto and his friend had gone off in. _I don't care who you are, but Naruto-kun is _mine_._

_**Naruto & Karin**_

"Are you alright Naruto-kun?" Karin asked as they began approaching a room that looked like a cafeteria of sorts. "He was awfully rude, wasn't he?"

Naruto sighed and shook his head. "Kiba's _always_ been like that. I tried to be his friend once, but he's always treated me like shit. I don't know why, either. But yes, I'll be fine. Thanks Karin-chan."

Leaning in, she placed a kiss on his cheek and smiled at him. "You're welcome Naruto-kun. It's best just to ignore people like that. Besides, I bet he's just jealous of you for some reason."

The blonde chuckled a bit and shook his head. "If he is, I can't imagine why. But thank you Karin-chan." he said as they went to get something to eat in the cafeteria.

A short time later, after sitting down at a table and beginning to dig into their meals, they heard someone speaking to them. "Well hello there. Where's that handsome teammate of yours?"

Turning to face the person that talked to them, Naruto saw the blonde from Suna standing nearby with her teammate, Kankuro. Glancing around for their final teammate, he asked, "Where's that other one that was with you? Y'know, Gaara or whatever his name was?"

Temari frowned at that and folded her arms across her chest. "I believe I asked you my question first. But, just so you know, Gaara stayed in our room. He's relaxing." she said. "Now, about that friend of yours?"

Naruto chuckled a bit. "Sasuke's become a girl. She's sleeping in the room she and Sakura are sharing last I checked."

Eyes widening at this information, Kankuro and Temari looked at each other for a moment before Kankuro looked at Naruto and asked, "You're joking right?" When Naruto and Karin just looked at them dully, Kankuro couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "How in the hell did _that_ happen?"

The whiskered teen sighed. "We were attacked by Orochimaru. He did something to Sasuke and, well...now he's a girl. It's weird, and it's taking some time to get used to, but it doesn't look like Sasuke's going to be able to change back."

"That's a shame. He was a good looking guy. Oh well." Temari said with a shrug. "What about you? Who's your new friend?"

Karin smiled and grabbed Naruto's hand again. "I'm Karin Uzumaki. We're from the same clan. I've decided to stay here with Naru-kun."

"Uzumaki? You're an Uzumaki?" Temari questioned as she looked at Naruto. "I thought all Uzumaki's had red hair though?"

Naruto sighed and shook his head. "I guess I'm just a special case. One of my parents probably had blonde hair and it just turned out to be the dominant trait. I wouldn't know though, considering the Hokage refuses to tell me about my parents. He won't even tell me if they loved me. How sick is that, huh?" he asked irritably.

Kankuro sweatdropped, not quite sure what the hell he was supposed to say to something like that. Temari, on the other hand, frowned and said, "That doesn't make any sense. Why the hell is he hiding your family from you like that?"

Karin frowned at this and shook her head. "It's not just that. They're not teaching about the Uzumaki clan in their academy either apparently. It's like they're trying to hide something that they don't want anyone to know about."

"I see. That _is_ pretty curious." Temari said. "Kind of makes one wonder if they had something to do with Uzushiogakure's destruction. I mean, they aren't exactly the greatest people to their allies. Just look at what they're doing to Suna. Our daimyo is outsourcing a large number of missions to Konohagakure and depriving our village of the money and other resources we need."

Naruto frowned at this, a thought striking him. "If that's true, why did you come to participate in the Chunin Exams here? I'd think you wouldn't want anything to do with Konoha after they've pulled something like that."

When Temari and Kankuro went silent, unable to formulate a proper reply, Karin smirked and said, "Because they're planning something. Most likely an invasion of some kind, if I had to fathom a guess. Am I right?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at that before turning his gaze on Temari and Kankuro. When they didn't deny it, he chuckled a bit. "Yeah, good luck with that. I won't tell anyone about your plans, but fair warning: you might want to rethink that idea. It won't go the way you're hoping it will."

"We still have to try." Kankuro said. "We can't exactly sit back and do _nothing_ while our village is suffering."

"I'm not saying you shouldn't do anything. I'm just saying this isn't the way to go about getting what you want. It's only going to hurt you in the end. I'm sure if you stopped to think about it, you'd be able to come up with a better idea than this." Naruto said.

Temari frowned as she thought about it. "You might be right, but it's a little too late to try and back out of it now. Besides, our father isn't going to change his mind about this so easily."

"Is your father the Kazekage?" Karin asked curiously. When she received a nod from the both of them, she couldn't help but sigh. "If he won't listen to his children, then I suppose it is pretty much impossible to change his mind, isn't it?"

"You've got that right." Kankuro said. "Anyways, enough about that. We got _way_ off topic. What the hell were we talking about before?"

Naruto shrugged and said, "You asked who my new friend was. After that, things just kind of spiraled downward from there."

"Ah, right. Well, since we got that out of the way, I think I'll just leave you two alone." Kankuro said before walking away to get some food for himself.

Temari looked between the two Uzumaki's and smiled. "So how did the two of you meet anyways? You look cute together."

The Uzumaki duo blushed a bit before Karin looked from Temari to Naruto with a smile. "Naruto-kun saved my life. When he asked me to stay in Konoha with him, I was more than happy to agree."

"Ahh, so it's like that, huh? Cute." Temari said with a grin. "Well, I hope you two enjoy your time together. I'd stay and chat more, but I'm starving. Take care!"

After Temari walked off, Karin looked at Naruto again and smiled. "Well, she's nice." she said.

_**The Next Day - Tower Arena**_

Team 7 stood amongst their peers down on the floor of the arena in the center of the tower. Karin was up on the observation platform watching the proceedings taking place. When the Hokage and his entourage (including the Jonin sensei) appeared after a few minutes on the upper level of the arena, everyone hushed up and waited to hear what the Hokage would have to say.

As the Hokage began giving a speech about the purpose of the Chunin Exams, everyone paid rapt attention. However, a rather sickly looking man interrupted after a short while. He introduced himself as Hayate Gekko to the remaining participants and explained that they would need to have preliminary matches as there were far too many teams remaining. Afterwards, he asked if there was anyone that wanted to back out.

The Konoha genin that they saw before the first exam, one Kabuto Yakushi, was one of those that dropped out. Then there were two Kumogakure genin that dropped out, followed by one genin from the only Iwagakure team to make it. Finally, two genin from the Takigakure team dropped out, leaving a green-haired girl as the only one remaining on her team.

This left one full Kumogakure team, a beautiful blonde from the other Kumogakure team, two kunoichi from the Iwagakure team, the green-haired girl from the Takigakure team, the team from Suna, Teams 7 - 10 of Konohagakure, and Kabuto's two teammates. All in all, there were a _lot_ of genin remaining. These preliminaries would cut the number down by half of that.

After making sure nobody else was leaving, Hayate motioned to Anko and she pressed a button on a remote. Everyone watched as a screen came out of the wall above them and the text on it began cycling through the names of all those that remained. When it finally stopped, everyone looked at the names listed before Hayate said, "Alright. Everyone except for Misumi Tsurugi and Shikamaru Nara, please join your senseis on the viewing platform." Hayate requested.

"Good luck Shikamaru." Naruto said as he walked by one of his only friends, patting him on the shoulder as he passed.

"Yeah, thanks Naruto." the Nara heir said before rubbing at his eyes tiredly. He was exhausted from his time in the forest, but he was prepared for anything his opponent could and would throw at him.

Once everyone had taken their places, Hayate raised his hand and swung it down as he shouted out, "Begin!"

* * *

**A/N - And that's the chapter! It's a bit shorter than my usual chapter length, but I felt that was a good place to end it. Again, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I don't like how it turned out, but then again, I wrote it while feeling just AWFUL. So hopefully you can forgive me for a subpar chapter.**

**Anyways, as you can see, Karin and Kin have taken an interest in Naruto. A number of things happened in this chapter, and I hope it proved interesting for you.**

**Also, in case you're wondering who the Genin are that are competing in the preliminaries, here's the list:**

**Teams 7 - 10 of Konohagakure**

**Yoroi Akado & Misumi Tsurugi**

**Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro**

**Kurotsuchi & Suzumebachi (from Iwagakure)**

**Yugito Nii, Samui, Karui, & Omoi (from Kumogakure)**

**Fu (from Takigakure)**

**Hopefully the preliminaries turn out to be pretty interesting this time around. This is the first time I've bothered to add extra teams from the various villages to the list of participants, so we'll see how it goes in the next chapter. As you can already see, I'm trying to mix things up so the fights are mostly original.**

**Anywho, not sure what else to say. I really feel like throwing up, so I'll end it by saying I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you didn't though, I don't blame you.**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N - Okay, here's the new chapter of A Beautiful Curse. I was having a bit of trouble writing this one up, but then again I've been pretty out of it lately and haven't been feeling 100%.**

**Anyways, before I begin, I'd like to say that I've heard your complaints about this story, and I'm sorry that it had a bit of a rough start and wasn't to your expectations. I can't please everyone, and I don't intend to try. Like I said before, when I was writing the first chapter, I was having a hard time because I was sick and was feeling pretty spacey. The same issue occurred again while writing this chapter. I just haven't been feeling so great and it does affect my writing sometimes.**

**Anywho, this chapter covers all the matches in the preliminaries...and that's it. It's just a bunch of fights. I would have written more, but I felt that where I ended this chapter was a good place to call it quits.**

**Without further adieu, enjoy this chapter! Hopefully. lol**

* * *

**Chapter 2 - Preliminary Matches**

To say Orochimaru was displeased would be something of an understatement. He had hoped that his Genin team from Otogakure would have made it through to the third stage of the Chunin Exam, but that hope seemed to be dashed. On top of that, Sasuke Uchiha had gone from being a young man to a young _woman_ and the curse mark he had placed on her had mysteriously vanished! He didn't know what the hell happened, and it bothered him a great deal.

As he looked around at all of the Chunin hopefuls, the Snake Sannin frowned, his eyes eventually settling on the transformed Sasuke. _I could try applying the curse mark again, but without knowing what the hell went wrong, I doubt it would do me much good to try again. I'll have to figure out some other way to bring Sasuke-kun to me._

Down below, Shikamaru sighed as the match begun. His opponent, one Misumi Tsurugi, quickly went on the attack, but the shadow user ensnared him with his Shadow Imitation Technique before he could get too close. "You're not too bright, are you?" Shikamaru asked, not expecting an answer from his opponent. "I suggest you surrender now." he said before moving his hand down his right leg, forcing his opponent to reach down with his left hand to the kunai holster strapped to his leg. Shikamaru, who had his kunai holster on his left leg, smirked as he forced Misumi to withdraw a kunai and press it up against his throat. "Give up, unless you'd like to kill yourself. I don't really want to take things that far, but if you push your luck, that's how this is going to go down."

Misumi scowled angrily at Shikamaru, furious that he had been bested so early into the fight. When he went to yell at the lazy Nara, Shikamaru forced him to press the kunai against his throat so tightly that it drew blood. Gulping, he shot a glance at the proctor, Hayate Gekko, and croaked out, "I-I give. I surrender."

Shikamaru smiled and began to walk off after being declared the victor of the first match. It was a short one, but he'd have it no other way. Before climbing the stairs to the viewing platform, he shot one last look at Misumi and said, "You only lost because you underestimated me. I'm sure you would have been quite the challenge otherwise." he said before climbing the stairs and rejoining his teammates.

As Misumi rejoined his friend and sensei, who was in fact Orochimaru in disguise, he grimaced as he caught the glare sent his way. Deciding not to push his luck, he stood next to Yoroi Akado and sighed, but didn't speak a word.

It was at this point that the next match was announced, the two Genin picked by the randomizer being Sakura Haruno and Choji Akimichi. As the two of them made their way down into the arena, Sakura looked quite confident while Choji looked a bit nervous. However, with the promise of an all you can eat BBQ feast, he soon perked up and looked like he was raring to go.

When the match started, Sakura took the initiative to rush forward and throw a punch at Choji's face. Not willing to let himself be hit by such an attack, Choji slipped around behind her and punched her in the back, knocking her to the ground.

Quickly moving back from his opponent, Choji quickly activated his Multi-Size Technique and expanded like a balloon. Afterwards, he tucked his limbs and head inside the ball he had become and used his Human Bullet Tank technique to began charging towards Sakura.

Sakura, who had just gotten to her feet, turned in time to see him rolling towards her. Eyes widening in horror, she leapt out of the way before withdrawing a kunai and charging towards her opponent, who was just turning around to continue with his attack. As she reached him, Sakura swung her kunai at the spinning ball of doom, only to wince as her wrist snapped upon impact with the high speed boulder that was her enemy. Before she could do anything more, she was crushed by Choji, who, after rolling over her, cancelled his techniques before looking down at her. "A-Are you okay?" he asked, hoping he didn't seriously hurt her.

The pinkette couldn't respond, however, as she had fallen unconscious upon being crushed. "Winner: Choji Akimichi!" Hayate exclaimed before allowing the medics to rush in and carry Sakura off so her wounds could be tended to.

Choji, seeing as his opponent was being taken care of, rejoined his team on the upper level, a frown on his face. He didn't like hurting his friends, but he didn't want to lose either. As he made to walk past Team 7, Naruto patted him on the shoulder and offered him a smile. "Don't feel too bad Choji. She'll be fine. Hopefully this will give her the kick in the butt she needs to start taking her training more seriously."

The pudgy boy smiled at his friend and nodded once in understanding before saying, "Thanks Naruto." Afterwards, he returned to his team and smiled more when they congratulated him on his victory.

_**Gaara vs. Kiba Inuzuka**_

Seeing who he was up against, Kiba felt a cold shiver go down his spine. Eyes going wide, he looked at his redheaded opponent and began to find it difficult to breathe. _Shit._ he thought.

When Akamaru began to whimper and shake his head, Kiba removed his friend from atop his head and looked him in the eyes seriously. "Akamaru, buddy...what should we do, huh?"

Akamaru barked a couple of times and shook his head. Kiba, nodding in understanding of his friend, quickly raised his hand and said, "Proctor, I forfeit! I'm not looking forward to dying today!" _That and I don't want to risk losing Akamaru to some crazed psychopath._

Gaara did not look pleased at this declaration, but rather than say anything, he returned to his team and began to scowl, clearly displeased at not getting the chance to feed his 'mother' the blood she so desired.

Hayate couldn't help but admit to himself that Kiba made the right decision. Turning his attention back to the randomizer, he waited patiently for it to stop on the next two names. This time it showed the names Rock Lee and Omoi.

Lee cheered excitedly at the fact that he was finally up and leapt down to the arena below. Omoi, on the other hand, didn't look too pleased as he joined his opponent down below. _I hate such energetic people._ He thought with a sigh.

As soon as the proctor announced for them to begin, Omoi was quick to draw his sword and bring it up to block Lee's punch. The strength behind his punch, however, caught the Kumo shinobi off guard. Quickly leaping back, away from Lee, Omoi eyed his opponent carefully. _This guy's strong. If I'm not careful, he could break my sword!_

When Lee dashed towards him again, the Kumo ninja charged Raiton-natured chakra through his blade and swung at Lee's midsection. Lee, seeing the danger such an attack could pose, stopped his charge and dodged by leaping back a couple of feet. However, as he was doing so, he could feel the electricity spark off the blade and strike his arm, causing it to go numb.

Frowning at this, the Konoha Genin waved his arm about a few times to try and get the feeling back. "Don't bother. My technique allows me to shock your nervous system and affect your mobility. You were lucky to avoid the worst of the damage, but your arm's going to be useless to you for a while." Omoi explained.

Lee frowned as he looked at his opponent with a cautious gaze. Omoi's technique would be troublesome to deal with, but he was confident that he could get around that particular defense. Before he could say or do anything more, however, he heard his sensei, Might Guy shouting at him to 'take them off'. Looking up at his sensei, he was about to ask if he was sure, but the very moment he looked away, Omoi struck, slashing diagonally from Lee's right shoulder down to just above his hip on the left side of his body, sending Raiton chakra coursing through his opponent's body.

Everyone watched as Lee fell to his knees, his body spasming while blood leaked from his fresh wound. _Damn, that doesn't look good._ Naruto thought to himself as he watched his senior Genin struggle to try and stand to his feet. When he collapsed face first onto the ground at Omoi's feet, his body refusing to listen to him, Lee let out a groan from the sheer frustration he was feeling more than from the pain.

Not willing to give his opponent a chance to continue, Omoi pressed his blade against the Konoha Genin's throat and said, "Yield Lee-san. I don't want to kill you, but if you push your luck, I will. Even though it might agitate your sensei and cause him to hate me so much that he seeks me out on the battlefield somewhere down the line and we get into a big clash that tears up the landscape and…"

"Shut the hell up already Omoi!" the redhead on his team shouted at him, tired of his rambling.

Blinking a couple of times, Omoi shot a quick glance over his shoulder and nodded slowly in response. Looking back down at Lee, he frowned as he watched the green-clad Genin struggling to move.

Omoi went to say something, but Lee's sensei shouted down at him, "I'm sorry Lee. Please don't push yourself anymore! It would be most unyouthful to see your life snubbed out before you truly get your chance to shine!"

Lee managed to turn his head to look at his sensei, seeing how serious he now looked. Sighing, the black-haired youth looked at Omoi's feet and said, "I...I give up. Sorry Guy-sensei. I let you down."

Omoi breathed a sigh of relief as he sheathed his sword and returned to his team. Meanwhile, Rock Lee was carried out on a stretcher by the medic nin so they could get to work healing him. Once they were out of the room, the randomizer started up once again.

_**Yoroi Akado vs. Hinata Hyuga**_

As Hinata was preparing to go down into the arena, she overheard Neji talking and frowned to herself as she heard what he was saying. "If she's smart, she'd forfeit now. It's her fate to be a pathetic nobody, a loser. Why try to fight her fate?"

When Hinata looked about ready to cry, her sensei patted her on the shoulder and smiled sweetly at her. "Give it your best Hinata-chan. You'll do great."

Thanking her sensei, Hinata made her way down to the arena floor and stood across from her opponent. "If you were smart, you'd quit now little girl." Yoroi said. "If you don't, I'm likely to kill you."

Shooting a glance up at her team and then to Neji, Hinata looked quite uncertain and began to fidget in place. However, she heard someone shout something and looked to see who it was. _Naruto-kun?_

"Hey! You with the butt for a face!" Naruto shouted, pointing at Neji. "I heard what you said! Hinata's gonna wipe the floor with this punk! Fate doesn't decide jack about anything! But if you truly believe fate is what controls us, then perhaps I should start calling you Fate's Bitch? How about that, huh?!"

Neji looked _furious_ at hearing this and was about to charge Naruto before he felt a strong hand clamp down on his shoulder. Looking into his sensei's eyes, he watched as Guy shook his head, a deep frown on his face. Scoffing, Neji turned his attention back down to Hinata and said, "I guess you losers have to stick together. Good for you."

The whiskered blonde looked at Hinata and said, "Mop the floor with this guy Hinata! You're strong! I know you can do it!"

Hinata smiled, glad to hear her crush cheering her on. Turning to face her opponent, she took the opening stance of the Gentle Fist taijustu style and activated her Byakugan, preparing to fight and, more importantly, _win_.

Once the match begun, Yoroi smirked at his opponent and decided to mock her a bit more to try and get rid of her newfound confidence. "So the little girl's grown a bit of a backbone. It won't be enough. You're just a pathetic little coward who couldn't fight her way out of a wet paper bag. I'm going to enjoy tearing you down."

With that being said, Yoroi dashed forward and attempted to grab her by the arm, but she slipped around to his side and, in the process of doing so, struck numerous points on his outstretched arm. As his arm went limp, he scowled and swung his other arm in an attempt to punch Hinata in the face.

Once again, the Hyuga heiress dodged the attack, this time by ducking below it, allowing her to counterattack with a fierce palm thrust to his chest, sending a burst of chakra through her palm on instinct. When her opponent collapsed to his knees and then fell to his side, his eyes boring up into hers before they quickly lost their light, her eyes widened in horror at what she had just done. "N-no...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to…" she stuttered out in denial of what she had just done. "Nooooo!" she screamed as she collapsed to her knees, clutching at her head and shaking it rapidly. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Kurenai was quick to jump down and wrap Hinata in a warm embrace, whispering soothing words to her and trying to help her through the trauma of her first kill. She knew she should have blooded her Genin earlier on a proper mission, but part of her wanted to let Hinata keep her innocence for a while longer. When she entered her team into the Chunin Exam, she never thought something like this might happen, and now that it was? Well, she just wanted to be here to help guide Hinata through the process.

Helping Hinata to her feet, the Genjutsu Mistress guided her back up the stairs and to her team. As they were passing Team 7, Naruto reached out and placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder. "Hinata? It's going to be okay. It was just an accident. We know you didn't mean to…"

"Of course she meant to. All Main Branch Hyuga are that way. They're monsters that think they can do whatever they want and get away with it simply because they're 'superior'. Pah!" Neji interrupted, disdain clear in his tone of voice.

"Ignoring the asshole with a stick way too far up his butt, your friends are here for you Hinata. We'll help you through this however we can. I promise." Naruto said, choosing to ignore Neji's rude comments.

Hinata looked at Naruto for a moment before clinging onto him and sobbing, her tears soaking his shirt. Naruto was shocked at first, but he quickly wrapped his arms around Hinata's back and began to pat her on the back gently. "You'll be okay Hinata. It'll be okay."

_**Neji Hyuga vs. Temari**_

When they had both taken their places down in the arena, Neji, in his usual arrogant way, said, "You should just forfeit now. It is fate for you to lose to me today."

The pigtailed blonde quirked a brow as she held her weapon at the ready. "Really? That's the best you've got for me? You really are just as Naruto said, Fate's Bitch. How sad and, as you seem to enjoy calling others, _pathetic_ you are." she said with a smirk on her face. "I'll show you that fate doesn't decide things such as this. It's about skill, not the luck of the draw."

Neji clenched his fists and activated his Byakugan, narrowing his eyes in anger towards the girl for daring to mock him. As soon as the match began, he rushed forward, intent on closing off her tenketsu and perhaps even killing her for what she said. However, as he drew closer, she opened her fan and unleashed a Futon technique at him, forcing him to take evasive maneuvers to avoid taking damage.

Temari knew that if her opponent got in close enough, he'd become far too dangerous to handle. So, utilizing her Futon techniques, she kept him at bay while trying to formulate some kind of plan. From the looks of it, he didn't know a few of the more important techniques that his clan was famous for, and she was grateful for that. If he knew even just the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven technique, that would make this match _much_ harder. Though at the same time, it would probably wear him down with each usage, so she could have used that to her advantage, she supposed.

After a few brief moments, Temari saw an opening and quickly dashed forward, closing her fan and swinging it with as much force as she could, slamming it into Neji's stomach and sending him flying backwards, tumbling end over end. Before he could recover from the blow, she unfurled her fan again and swung it, once more releasing a Great Sickle Weasel Technique, causing blades of wind to tear into her opponent's flesh and causing him to scream out in agony. Once her technique had finished, she saw Neji struggling to rise. "Stay down or I'll do worse to you! Just forfeit already!"

Neji struggled to stand up, his wounds bleeding and his eyes holding a cold fury to them that shook Temari just a bit. "I...will not lose to a weakling like you. It's...my fate to win here today. You're just...some pathetic bitch from a weak village! I…"

Before Neji could continue, Temari unleashed another attack on him, tired of hearing him speak nothing but insults to her and her home. Neji barely managed to roll out of the way of the attack, but he wasn't prepared for the follow-up strike when she slammed her closed fan into the side of his head, knocking him out from the force of the blow.

Once she was declared the winner, Temari looked up at Might Guy and scowled. "You know, normally I wouldn't lecture someone like this, but in this case, I'm going to. You _really_ need to work on his attitude. You absolutely _cannot_ allow him to continue being such an arrogant douchebag. Whatever you've been doing so far hasn't worked, so think of a new approach and get through to the prick." she said before rejoining her teammates.

Guy sighed and nodded his head sadly. _Neji, my foolish pupil. She is right, I've been far too lenient on you and that is most unyouthful of me._

_**Yugito Nii vs. Kurotsuchi**_

As Yugito and Kurotsuchi made their way down into the arena, the Kyuubi decided to rear its ugly head and began speaking to its container. "_**Heh, so the Nibi's container is up now, is she? Make sure you watch this match carefully brat. That blonde houses my sister, the Nibi. I refuse to have you lose to her if you face her in the finals. Of course, you still have to survive these preliminary matches, don't you?**_"

Blinking in shock at this, Naruto looked down at Yugito as he replied to the Kyuubi. _Does that mean you're willing to help me out a bit, Kyuubi? 'Cause I'll be honest, I could probably use the help. Kami knows I haven't been given the kind of training I so desperately need. Best I've got is my Shadow Clones and my sloppy taijutsu._ He admitted somewhat shamefully.

"_**Hmm, you make a good point. People have been rather biased against you because of me. Tell you what, you make it through the preliminary round and I'll see about cooking up a training program for you to follow. I might even teach you a technique or two if you're well-behaved.**_" Kyuubi remarked, deciding to throw his prison a bone, so to speak. "_**For now, pay attention to the fight so you know what to expect from her. I guarantee that she'll win this fight. Might not be the easiest fight in the world for her to win, but Nibi's container's tougher than she looks.**_"

_Gotcha. And thanks Kyuubi-sensei._ Naruto replied as he paid close attention to what was taking place in the arena.

Cutting the connection, Kyuubi released a sigh and shook his head. _**I'm not your sensei yet, brat. Don't go getting your hopes up.**_ He thought to himself silently.

As soon as the match began, Kurotsuchi flew through a few hand seals before spitting out globs of lava, of all things, that sailed towards her opponent like bullets from a high powered rifle. Yugito nimbly dodged each one before bringing her hand up to her lips and spat out a tiny blue fireball that took the form of a mouse. As it multiplied and grew ever closer to Kurotsuchi, the Iwa kunoichi scowled and quickly created a wall made of earth using one of her Doton techniques that blocked the mouse fireballs.

This turned out to be something of a mistake, because as soon as the wall was destroyed by the numerous explosions happening all at once, Yugito burst through the cloud of dust, swinging her claws at Kurotsuchi's face.

Eyes widening in horror, Kurotsuchi quickly brought up her arms to shield herself against the attack, only for the claws to leave bloody scratches in their wake on her forearms. Grimacing in pain, the Iwa kunoichi lashed out with a kick that connected with Yugito's stomach and sent her skidding backwards along the ground from the force of the blow.

Now that she had a bit of space between them, the pink-eyed kunoichi quickly flew through hand seals before slamming her hands to the ground and calling out, "**Magma River!**" Almost immediately afterwards, the floor in front of her seemed to cave in as it was transformed into a pit of lava.

Yugito, quickly realizing the danger of such a technique, decided to go for broke and activated the initial stage of her bijuu cloak. Glaring at her opponent, Yugito disappeared in a burst of speed and reappeared right behind Kurotsuchi in mid-swing with her claws ready to shred into her opponent.

Kurotsuchi quickly jumped out of the way, but the claws still struck true, leaving three bleeding gashes on her back. Upon landing, she spun around and spat out more Lava Bullets, but they were dodged by the speedy Yugito. What made things worse is that she had to be careful of the pit of magma she had created, as even she wasn't immune to burning alive in said magma. _If I could just lure her into the lava, it would help tremendously. But I don't think she's going to give me the opportunity…_ Kurotsuchi thought to herself, quite aggravated with her current situation. _I didn't realize I was up against a damn jinchuriki of all things!_

Faster than her opponent could react, Yugito appeared next to Kurotsuchi and slammed her into the ground, her face dangerously close to the magma. "**Surrender. Now!**" she snarled out.

The lovely young Iwa kunoichi scowled as she tried to push back against Yugito, but her grip on her head only tightened, eliciting a groan of pain from Kurotsuchi. Glancing around at her surroundings, she tried to find something, _anything_ she could swap places with using the Replacement Technique, but sighed sadly when she didn't find anything usable. So, with a resigned sigh, she nodded slowly. "Proctor, I forfeit. Now will you please get off of me?" she requested.

Yugito nodded once before disabling her cloak and stepped away from Kurotsuchi, who proceeded to use a couple of techniques to cool the pit of lava and solidify it again so they could continue with the preliminaries without such a problem being in the way.

After Kurotsuchi had finished cementing the floor once more, she turned to Yugito and smirked at her. "Next time we have a fight like this, I'm going to win it. Count on it." she said before returning to her teammate and sensei up above.

The Nibi jinchuriki couldn't help but laugh lightly at that and nodded once as she returned to her sensei's side. After a moment however, she looked at Naruto with a frown, as she could sense he held the strongest bijuu of the lot, the Kyuubi. _I'll have to introduce myself to him later. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do, Naruto Uzumaki._

_**Naruto Uzumaki vs. Karui**_

When Naruto saw his name on the screen, he was initially a bit nervous, but he soon displayed an air of confidence to try and mask his nervousness. Before he could head down to meet his opponent in the arena, he was stopped by Karin, who gave him a hug and said, "Good luck Naruto-kun. Be careful."

"Thanks Karin-chan." he said in reply. Before he could walk off, Sasuke placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't lose Naruto. I want to face you in the finals and I can't do that if you lose here." she said, trying to give him her own version of a pep talk.

Chuckling a bit, the blonde Uzumaki nodded in understanding before he hopped over the railing into the arena below. Standing across from his opponent, Naruto gave her a confident grin. "I hope you're ready for this, because I don't plan to lose here."

"I half expected you to chicken out on me. Guess all that bravado in the first stage of the exam wasn't for nothing, huh? Still, you're shit out of luck. I'm about to crush you." the redhead replied, a cocky grin on her face.

Looking between the two of them, Hayate nodded once before shouting, "Begin!" and leaping away. This was a good decision as Karui immediately went on the attack, her sword swinging somewhat wildly at her blonde foe.

Naruto dodged each attack, moving the absolute minimum that he had to so he wouldn't expend too much energy dodging her attacks. At one point, the blade got a little too close for comfort and cut his cheek, just below his left eye. Naruto seemed to pause at this point as he reached up and wiped some of the blood off of his cheek. "Huh, you're not bad." he complimented before reaching up and quickly grabbing the tip of her blade when she swung it at him once again.

Karui blinked in shock and tried to pull her sword back and out of Naruto's grip, but he held firm, keeping it and, by extension, _her_ in place. "I think it's my turn to make a move, don't you Karui?" he asked rhetorically before he held up his free hand and formed a one-handed seal. "**Shadow Clone Technique!**"

In an instant, a large puff of smoke surrounded them and made it impossible for anyone to see what was taking place down below. Just as suddenly as it happened, the smoke was blown away by a wave of chakra. When they could see again, a great number of people were shocked at the sheer number of Shadow Clones in the arena. "Since when could he do something like that?! He could never perform the Clone Technique properly. So what the hell is this?!" Kiba questioned loudly.

Kakashi decided to speak up in explanation of the technique. "It's called the Shadow Clone Technique, a kinjutsu created by the Nidaime Hokage. It's a very chakra intensive technique, but it's perfect for someone like Naruto who has far more chakra than any regular person. It's actually why he can't use the regular Clone Technique, as that requires such fine chakra control, which is impossible for Naruto to achieve. Just by looking at the sheer number of clones he's produced and the fact that Naruto doesn't look winded in the slightest should tell you how insane his chakra reserves are."

A great many people were stunned by this information and began to look at Naruto in a new light. The blonde didn't care though. No, he was focused entirely on his fight and couldn't help but smirk at the look of horror on his opponent's face. "Sorry for this, but I did say I was planning to win. Guys, you know what to do." Snapping his fingers, he watched as his numerous Shadow Clones began their assault.

Karui fought valiantly against her opponents, taking down quite a few of them in the process, but three of them soon slipped through her guard and kicked her into the air. "Na-" they began as three more leapt up and kicked her even higher. "Ru-" She was kicked even higher, the clones springing off of one another to reach her. "To" The real Naruto appeared above her, spinning in place before he hit her in the midsection with a powerful kick, the force sending the two of them crashing into the floor below. "Uzumaki Combo!"

With his attack finished, Naruto dispelled his clones and withdrew a kunai before walking over to the downed Karui and pressing his kunai to her neck. "Do you yield?"

Wincing in agony, she said, "Proctor, I forfeit the match."

At hearing this, the proctor called the match in Naruto's favor while the blonde withdrew his kunai and slipped it away. Smiling down at his foe, Naruto helped her to her feet and allowed her to lean against him so she wouldn't collapse. "You fought well Karui. I had fun."

Looking at her opponent, she was a bit flabbergasted, but she couldn't help but smile at him. "Thanks Naruto. You're a lot tougher than you look. I learned a lot from our fight." Shortly after she said that, the medics came out to take her away. She grumbled a bit, but complied with their wishes to take care of her.

Returning to his team, Naruto smiled and fist bumped Sasuke, the two of them grinning at one another. "Good job Naruto. I knew you wouldn't let me down." she said.

"That was awesome! Congratulations Naruto-kun!" Karin exclaimed, smiling brightly at him.

"Yes, good job Naruto. I'm proud of you." Kakashi said with an eye smile on his face.

Naruto frowned at this comment, but nodded his head in acceptance before turning around so he could watch the next fight. _Proud of me? Yeah, right. You didn't teach me anything other than the tree climbing exercise. You're a lazy asshole._

"_**Don't worry about him, Kit. I'll train you for the final matches. What you learn between then and now though is entirely dependent on how much time there is between these preliminary matches and the finals. Regardless, I'll get you up to snuff in no time, especially with those Shadow Clones of yours.**_" the Kyuubi said, trying to cheer his container up a bit.

_Thanks Kyuubi-sensei. But I have to ask, why are you being nice to me? Shouldn't you hate me?_ Naruto questioned, quite curious about the Kyuubi's reasoning.

"_**Meh, you're not the worst person to be sealed inside of. Besides, you've had it rough and there's no real point in making things worse than they already are. And it's like I said, I don't want my jailer to be weak. You represent me, after all. The assholes in this village have done everything possible to keep you under their thumb and have intentionally stunted your growth. I plan to fix that.**_"

_Well...thank you Kyuubi-sensei. I appreciate it. I just hope I don't let you down. And...what did you mean about the Shadow Clones? How can they help with my training?_

The Kyuubi sweatdropped at this before chuckling a bit. "_**If you had bothered to truly read over the description of that technique when you had the Scroll of Seals, you would have learned that anything a Shadow Clone learns, when it dispels, those memories get transferred to the caster of the technique. What this means is that you can use them to help you with your training. Say for instance you're trying to master the exercise for an elemental nature such as fire. Whatever progress one of your Shadow Clones makes with the exercise, it can dispel and pass that knowledge on to you and the other Shadow Clones to make things easier. It also makes learning new techniques pretty easy too. Of course, you'll have to do all the physical exercises yourself, as your clones can't pass on the physical aspects of your training. So while your clones are doing one thing, I plan to have you exercising as much as possible to increase your strength, stamina, the whole shebang. I hope you're prepared for the torture your training's going to be, Naruto Uzumaki.**_"

_That sounds awesome! I can't wait Kyuubi-sensei!_ Naruto exclaimed in thought. _I won't let you down._

Sighing, the Kyuubi laid its head down on its paws before relaying one final message to his container. "_**Kurama, Kit. My name is Kurama. If we're going to be working together, you might as well refer to me by name.**_"

_Kurama, huh? That's a nice name. Thanks again, Kurama-sensei._ All Kurama could do was chuckle a bit as he watched through his container's eyes as the next two fighters took their place in the arena.

_**Tenten vs. Samui**_

"Wish I had breasts that big." Karin muttered to herself as she looked at the blonde Kumo kunoichi in the arena. "I feel so flat in comparison."

Sasuke quirked a brow in curiosity before looking at Karin's chest. Then she looked down at her own breasts before looking into Karin's eyes. "These things just get in the way. I'd gladly trade you if I could."

Karin looked at Sasuke for a moment before she began to cry comically. "It's not fair. You were a guy! How'd you end up with a body like that when you were transformed, huh?"

The raven-haired Uchiha sweatdropped at this before turning around to watch the fight. She figured it was best to ignore the inane ramblings of the redhead behind her.

Samui couldn't help but release a sigh as she rubbed her shoulders a bit. "Yet another person that claims to envy my body. So uncool. These things make my back ache enough as it is."

Her opponent, Guy's final student, giggled and nodded her head. "I'm sure they do. But you can't really blame other girls for admiring your figure. Most women wish they had your kind of figure, big breasts included. Personally though? I couldn't care less. My goal is to be as strong, if not _stronger_ than Tsunade-sama someday. Beating you here will put me one step closer to that goal. So, I hope you're ready. I'm going to rock your world."

Samui deadpanned at her opponent and said, "You _know_ the perverts are going to take that the wrong way. Why'd you say it like that? So uncool."

When Tenten went to reply, she stopped as she heard perverted giggling coming from a couple of people. Sweatdropping, she rubbed the back of her head and chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that. Anyways, we're ready proctor." she said, looking to Hayate who nodded before calling for the match to begin.

Samui immediately drew her tanto and prepared to combat anything her opponent might send her way. However, she didn't expect for dozens of weapons to come flying at her. She deflected as many of them as she could, but still ended up receiving numerous nicks and scratches along her body, while a few weapons were actually embedded in her left arm and right leg.

Wincing at this, Samui watched as her opponent began to manipulate her weapons via razor thin ninja wire. When they came flying at her again, Samui muttered, "Uncool." before letting out a soft sigh and saying, "Proctor, I forfeit. I don't have anything that could combat this type of opponent."

When the weapons fell lifelessly to the ground, the blonde bombshell breathed a sigh of relief before she bowed her head to her opponent. "Thank you. You've shown me an area that I need to improve in. Good luck in the finals." and with that being said, Samui allowed the medics to take her away while Tenten went to work collecting all of her weapons once again.

Naruto couldn't help but smile for his old friend's victory. When they were in the orphanage together, she was his only friend. The day she got adopted, he made her promise not to forget about him, just as he promised not to forget about her. Unfortunately, upon meeting again, it seemed as if she had no idea who he even was, which stung, but he wasn't quite sure what he was expecting. Still, he didn't hold a grudge against her for forgetting about him. Actually, he was just sad that he had lost his once friend.

When Tenten went to pass him, he whispered to her, "Congratulations on your win...Ten-chan." causing her to pause and stare at him.

"Nobody's called me that in a long time, aside from my parents, that is. A kid back in the orphanage used to call me that, but I can't remember his face." she admitted, a frown on her face as she looked him over.

Naruto sighed at this and nodded his head. "I kind of figured. At least you haven't totally forgotten about me. I was worried your new parents might have...might have done something to make you forget about me."

The bun-haired girl frowned at this. "Don't go accusing my parents of anything you little runt. They're good people! They…" it was at this point that Tenten clutched at her head and screamed out in pain. "They...they wouldn't…" she muttered through the pain.

Tenten's sensei was by her side in an instant, looking her over carefully for whatever might be causing his student such agony. What he saw worried him greatly. As he parted the hair on the top of her head, he could see the outline of a seal shining brightly. In no time at all, he had his student in front of the Hokage. "Hokage-sama, someone has placed a seal on my student! Just look at what it's doing to her!"

Hiruzen frowned as he examined what he could see of the seal through her hair. Humming to himself, he ran his finger along the seal, glad that the girl had passed out, lest her screaming give him a headache. _To think people would go so far to ensure Naruto-kun didn't have any friends._

Looking into Guy's eyes, Hiruzen shook his head sadly. "I'll need to recall Jiraiya for this. He's far better with seals than I am, I'm afraid. When she wakes up, tell her to avoid contact with Naruto for a while and not to think about what triggered this reaction. It's for her own good. I'll tell Jiraiya to return as quickly as he can. Hopefully he doesn't dilly dally for his own perverse habits like he's wont to do."

The eccentric Jonin nodded his head. "Please do so. And if he decides to take any detours on the way, please let him know that I'll personally punish him. He may be a Sannin and this village's spymaster, but that will not exempt him from punishment should he act in an unyouthful manner. Tenten is one of my precious students and I don't like seeing her harmed like this."

The aged Sandaime Hokage nodded before motioning for him to leave. "I assure you Guy that Jiraiya will be here within the week. He knows better than to cross me when I give him an order."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Guy said before returning to his other students where he laid Tenten down against the wall. "Such an unyouthful act must not go unpunished." he said to himself as he thought about who might have put such a thing on his student, hoping dearly it wasn't who he thought it was.

Naruto, meanwhile, frowned as he looked at his once friend. _So...they _did_ do something after all. Doesn't that just figure?_ He thought to himself with a sigh.

"What the hell was all that about Naruto?" Sasuke questioned, narrowing her eyes on her friend.

The blonde shook his head and shrugged. "Ten-chan and I were friends when we lived in the orphanage together. It seems...someone wanted to keep her from associating with me."

"But _why_, Naruto? It's obvious something was done to her, but my question is _why_? What is it that makes people hate you so much?"

Naruto shook his head, his expression solemn. "I'll...tell you later, Sasuke. Not here. Not in front of all these people."

Karin piped up at this point. "So, it _is_ like I figured then." she said quietly, only being heard by Naruto and his team. Looking into her new friend's eyes, she offered him a sympathetic smile. "You've had it rough, haven't you?"

Before Naruto could say anything in reply, Kakashi made his presence heard. "I'm afraid this subject is something best not discussed so openly. If Naruto wishes to discuss it later in a private setting, that's his prerogative. For now, it's best to drop this subject."

Despite his dislike of his sensei, Naruto had to admit he was thankful to him at this point. Nodding his head slowly, the whiskered youth smiled at his friends and said, "I promise I'll talk to you about this later. Right now, let's just focus on the rest of these matches and study them. You never know who we might end up against in the finals."

"Naruto's right. Focus on the matches for now." Kakashi said in agreement with his student. _Though I wish he wouldn't make such promises. It's best to keep knowledge of the Kyuubi close to the chest._

_**Fu vs. Sasuke Uchiha**_

When Naruto looked at who would be Sasuke's opponent, he frowned when he heard the Kyuubi chuckling in his head. _What's so funny Kurama-sensei?_

Kurama's chuckling slowly came to a stop before he began to speak. "_**That Fu girl. She houses another of my brethren, the Nanabi. If that girl's able to tap into my sister's power, then your friend doesn't stand a chance.**_"

Frowning at this, Naruto looked at Sasuke, who had already ventured down to the arena below. _Shit. What should I do, Kurama-sensei?_

"_**Nothing. Just let this play out how it will and hope Nanabi's jinchuriki isn't the bloodthirsty type. I highly doubt she is, considering the Nanabi's temperament. If anyone's the bloodthirsty type, it's Ichibi's container, that Gaara kid. Ichibi's always been a bit unstable, but that kid just reeks of bloodlust. I'd steer clear of that one until you've improved some.**_" Kurama advised.

Looking at Gaara, Naruto frowned and shook his head. _Damn. What the hell are so many jinchuriki doing here? Something about this just doesn't feel right…_

"_**Your guess is as good as mine, Kit. For now, focus on the fight and pay attention to everything this Fu girl can do. It's already a given she's going to win this fight, so I want you to be prepared in case you have to fight her in the future.**_"

_Got it. I hate to see Sasuke lose like this though._ Naruto thought with a frown as he watched the proctor announce the match.

"_**You can't win 'em all Kit. You'd be a fool to think yourself invincible. Hopefully her loss here will help Sasuke learn a little humility and prove to her that just because she's an Uchiha, it doesn't mean everything is always going to go her way. It's like that time when you two were fighting that ice girl, Haku. Sasuke couldn't defeat that opponent, and yet it did nothing to curb Sasuke's attitude. This should hopefully have the effect she so desperately needs.**_"

Something about what Kurama had just said struck Naruto as odd. _Wait...girl? I thought Haku was a guy?_

Chuckling could be heard coming from the Kyuubi at this point. "_**No Kit, Haku was a girl. She tricked you.**_"

_Well...damn. Not much else I can say about that. I knew she was way too pretty to be a guy, but…_

"_**Yeah, yeah. Just focus on the fight playboy.**_" Kurama teased, much to Naruto's embarrassment.

Sure enough, the fight had begun while they were talking. Sasuke had attempted a Great Fireball Technique, but Fu had simply flown over it. Looking at her airborne opponent, Sasuke frowned as she tried to figure out what kind of technique allowed for such a thing. Before she could react, Fu released a bright, glowing mist of some kind that blinded her, causing her to wince in pain. _Shit! How am I supposed to fight if I can't see her?!_

Before Sasuke could devise some kind of strategy for fighting her airborne opponent, she felt a hard blow to the gut that caused her to spit up a glob of saliva. "S-shit…" she said quietly as she stumbled back a few steps, the pain in her gut not lessening in the slightest.

"I'm sorry, but you should just give up Uchiha-san. You can't win." Fu said in an effort to convince her opponent to forfeit the match. "I don't want to hurt you anymore if I can avoid it."

Scowling at this, Sasuke opened her eyes, Sharingan blazing as she looked at her opponent. "I...I refuse to quit! I need to move forward! I can't let you beat me here!" she exclaimed before throwing a few shuriken at Fu. She was shocked when her shuriken just bounced harmlessly off of her opponent. "H-how?"

"You don't need to know. Suffice it to say, you can't beat me Uchiha-san. That's all I'll say." the mint-haired girl said before she took to the sky again. Once she was airborne, she held up a single hand seal before opening her mouth and spitting out a water bullet, the speed of which worried Sasuke slightly as she did a backflip to avoid the technique. However, when she looked up, she saw several more water bullets flying at her. The female Uchiha cursed as she dodged one after another, only to slip when she landed on some of the water left over from Fu's attacks.

Needless to say, this gave Fu her opening and she took full advantage of it by moving in and hitting Sasuke in the back of the neck hard enough to knock her out. As Sasuke crumpled to the floor, Fu breathed out a sigh of relief before she made her way back to her sensei.

Kakashi sighed as he collected his student and laid her against the wall. "Well, at least one of you made it through to the finals. I fully expected Sasuke to make it through as well, but you can't win 'em all."

Naruto shook his head at that and said, "She was just unlucky this time around. I'm sure that Sasuke will succeed next time. Right now, I just hope I don't fuck up in the finals. I'm a bit nervous, to be honest with you."

Karin frowned at hearing this before she wrapped Naruto in a hug. "You'll do great Naruto-kun. I'm sure of it. Besides, you'll probably have some time to train between now and the finals, so I'm positive you'll only get stronger. Have a little more confidence in yourself."

The whiskered blonde nodded slowly as he hugged his clanmate back. "Thanks Karin-chan. Still, it's going to be tough. I have to be prepared for whoever I end up facing."

_**Kankuro vs. Shino Aburame**_

Naruto rather enjoyed this fight. Shino was able to quickly deduce that the bundle housed the real Kankuro while the Suna Genin they all saw was, in all actuality, Kankuro's puppet. At first, as the kikaichu descended upon the bundle, a great majority of the people there expected it to be a quick victory for the young Aburame. However, Kankuro leapt from the bundle, bug free, and manipulated his puppet to strike at his opponent with one of his many poisoned weapons.

Shino had his kikaichu leech off of the chakra strings connecting Kankuro to his puppet, forcing the Suna Genin to cancel his technique, lest he get swarmed by the bothersome insects. However, much to everyone's surprise, he managed to quickly send out a single chakra thread that connected with his puppet's head, making it lunge at Shino with a blade protruding from its mouth.

Shino dodged, but ended up being scratched by the poisoned blade. However, at this point, Kankuro was covered in the Aburame's kikaichu and was screaming as he tried to shake them off of him. Sadly for him, he was soon rendered unconscious as they drained his chakra reserves dry before returning to Shino. Before the match could be announced in his favor, however, Shino collapsed as well, the poison affecting him deeply. So, with no clear winner, Hayate announced the match as a draw before the medics rushed out and carried the two combatants away.

The final match of the preliminaries was between Ino Yamanaka of Konoha and Suzumebachi of Iwa. This was a pathetically short match, as Ino was a diehard fangirl that hadn't taken her training very seriously at all. The teenage blonde attempted to use her primary clan technique to take over Suzumebachi's body, but her opponent avoided this technique and had her bees descend upon Ino, quickly taking her out of the competition.

Now, with all the matches over and done with, all of the winners were called down to draw numbers from a box as it was carried to each of them.

"I've got one." Naruto said as he held up his slip of paper.

"N-nine." Hinata said timidly.

"Seven. How troublesome." Shikamaru muttered.

"Six." Choji said.

"I'm eight." Tenten said, having woken up sometime during Shino's match. She was feeling a little better now, but she couldn't help but feel like something was wrong.

"Ten." Gaara said quietly.

"I'm number two." Temari said with a grin.

"Five." Yugito said with a smile on her face.

"Four." Omoi said.

"I'm eleven!" Fu exclaimed happily.

"That means I'm number three. How fun." Suzumebachi said.

"Okay, if you'll please look at this board, you'll see who you're going to be up against in the finals." Hayate said, coughing a couple of times as he spoke.

_Naruto Uzumaki vs. Temari_

_Suzumebachi vs. Omoi_

_Yugito Nii vs. Choji Akimichi_

_Shikamaru Nara vs. Tenten_

_Hinata Hyuga vs. Gaara_

_Fu vs. Winner of Match #5_

Seeing who he was up against, Naruto shot a glance at Temari, who simply smiled and waved at him. Smiling back, he said, "Best of luck Temari. I'm looking forward to our fight."

"Same here. I'm eager to see what you can really do." Temari admitted.

It was at this point that the Hokage's voice interrupted their conversation. "Congratulations on making it through to the finals of the Chunin Exam. The finals will be held one month from now. Take that time to train hard for your battles and do your village proud. Each of you have more than earned your place in the final matches, and I know I, as well as many others, are looking forward to seeing what you can do. Dismissed!"

As Naruto went to walk away, the Hokage's voice stopped him. "Naruto-kun, I would like to speak with you in my office tomorrow morning. I have a lot to talk with you about. For now, take the rest of the day off and try to relax. And...good luck in the finals."

Nodding slowly, Naruto was soon joined by Karin as they made their way out of the tower. Naturally, he was curious about what was so important that the Hokage would ask to speak with him, but he pushed that thought aside for simply enjoying Karin's presence. He would worry about the finals and his meeting with the Hokage later. Right now, he wanted to go enjoy a couple nice, hot bowls of ramen at his favorite establishment in the village, Ramen Ichiraku. He had already gone far too long without enjoying the food of the gods and he'd be damned if he went without it any longer. Sure, ramen wasn't _all_ that he ate, but he still loved his favorite food and liked to spoil himself a little from time to time.

Before they could leave the tower, Sasuke caught up to them and patted her teammate on the shoulder. "Hey there. I hope you weren't planning on ditching me. I still want to hear the truth from you about what the heck's going on. Also...congrats on making it to the finals. Sorry I couldn't join you. I really tried, but…"

Naruto smiled at Sasuke and shook his head. "It's okay Sasuke. You really just had poor luck this time around. I'll...explain later, but your opponent was just out of your league. Probably out of mine too. There's a reason for that and I promise I'll tell you later. For now, let's just go enjoy a nice, warm meal, and leave worrying about all the other crap for later. I know I'm starving!"

Giggling a bit, Sasuke nodded her head before following along as they left the tower and proceeded through the Forest of Death, making their way back towards the village proper. _I can't help but wonder just what he means by that. I suppose I'll find out later. For now, it's nice to just be with my friend._

* * *

**A/N - And that's the end of the chapter! Hopefully you enjoyed it. If not...then crud. lol**

**Anyways, I know some of the fights weren't all that great, but like I said before, I was feeling like utter shit while writing this chapter. That and I've been extremely fatigued for the past few days and just...haven't had the energy to really do much of anything.**

**As you can see, Sasuke lost her fight while Naruto won his. I tried to make things interesting with all the fights and I tried to be more original this time as well in who fought against who. I think it turned out fairly well really.**

**Oh! Before I forget, there was one more thing I wanted to mention! Somebody left a review on the first chapter pretty much complaining about how I brought in a bunch of girls for the harem. Thing is, that is not my intention. It never was. I just wanted to make things more interesting and be a bit more diverse in how I did things. I actually had no plans for the harem at all when I wrote that first chapter. *shrugs* I pretty much just write and let whatever happens, happen. That's how I've always done it and I have no plans to change that. Will some of them end up with Naruto? Possibly. Who the hell knows? lol. I know I don't.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you're looking forward to more. I honestly have no idea what I'll work on next, sooo...just be on the lookout for whatever. lol**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N - Alrighty, here's chapter 3 of A Beautiful Curse! I wanted to work on this story next, sooo...here it is! lol.**

**Anyways, some of you were disappointed with the match turnouts in the previous chapter, so I'll just say that the matches were completely randomized via a RNG (Random Number Generator). I wanted them to be original and interesting. Even then, the way some of the matches turned out bothered you as well. The biggest example of what I'm talking about is Rock Lee's loss to Omoi. I figured that was pretty realistic, judging by how Rock Lee would ask his sensei if he's sure and all that. A moment's distraction in battle can have devestating consequences, which is what I felt he needed to learn via that particular battle. An opponent isn't just going to sit and wait for you to have a conversation with your sensei and they certainly won't just sit back and let you remove a bunch of weights or something. It's not like they're characters in Dragon Ball Z/Super/etc.**

**Anywho, that's enough of that. On with the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Revelations**

After arriving at Ramen Ichiraku and ordering their meals, Naruto looked at Karin and then at Sasuke, who were sitting beside him. "Alright, here's as good a place as any to talk about this. The old man and Ayame-chan already know about my secret, so it should be fine to talk about it here." he said, a slight frown tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Alright, spill it Naruto. What's this secret of yours that you're unable to speak of in front of others? It sounds like some kind of horrible secret, but what could be so bad that it causes people to hate you the way they do?" Sasuke questioned.

Naruto sighed and said, "Sasuke...you remember how we learned that the Fourth killed the Kyuubi? Well...that's not true. You can't kill what is essentially a mass of chakra given form. The best you can do...is seal it away. Each of the bijuu have been sealed inside of people that are called jinchuriki. Jinchuriki...they aren't born, they're _made_. And then, after those in charge make us into jinchuriki...we're normally treated with disdain and hatred. People treat us like we're the bijuu themselves. It's...it's wrong, because...because…"

Karin placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and said, "It doesn't make sense that jinchuriki are treated so harshly when they normally don't have any choice in the matter. The people in charge create them...and then they're treated like they're worth less than dirt. I had a feeling you were one when you first hinted at it. But, I could also sense something else within you, despite how warm and inviting your natural chakra is. For what it's worth, I'm sorry you've had to live such a harsh life."

Sasuke was wide-eyed for a time before she eventually said, "Wow. So that's the real reason people hate you so much? I always thought that they didn't like you because of all the pranks you pulled, but…"

Naruto shook his head and said, "Sasuke...one thing you need to know is that I put up a mask to hide my pain. I chose to smile and act like an idiot so people would leave me alone. As for the pranks? Part of the reason behind those is because it was good training. The other reason? Well, I wanted to get back at the people that had treated me so harshly. I still remember my tenth birthday...they tried to kill me for the first time ever on that day. But the Kyuubi combined with my own natural healing factor just refused to let me die."

"Kami." Sasuke breathed out in horror. "I never knew."

The whiskered teen shook his head and said, "The incident was brushed under the rug, in a sense. Those responsible for the attack got off easy...I still don't know why. I know you've had it rough too, Sasuke, because of the massacre, so I don't hold the way you've acted towards people, me included, against you. We just took things in different ways. While you seemed to seclude yourself and distance yourself from people, I continued to wear a mask of idiocy and acted like everything was perfectly fine. It was either that...or try to kill myself again. I've tried a few ways, but when I realized that nothing would work, I decided just to live and deal with it. No matter how hard things got...I just had to deal with it."

Karin hugged Naruto and said, "I'm sorry. If I could have only been here for you…"

Naruto shook his head and asked a rhetorical question, "Did you know that I didn't even learn about why I was so hated until I failed the academy's exam for the third time? I had to learn from a traitor to the village that I contained the Kyuubi, rather than being told by the Hokage or someone else I felt I could trust. That I _should_ be able to trust. No...I had to learn from a traitor, and in a way that could have gotten me killed. It all made sense though. People seem to think I really _am_ the Kyuubi. After all, the traitor's mindset was that I was the Kyuubi in human form. So if he thought that way, I'm pretty sure the majority of the village seems to believe that as well. And the Hokage feeds me the same bullshit all the damn time. "Just give it time. They're grieving and they don't know what they're doing." Blah blah fucking blah! Don't even want to delve into the other crap he's fed me in his attempt to defend the villagers and their actions."

Clenching his fists tight, Naruto shut his eyes tight and said, "On top of that, whenever I ask about who my parents were, the Hokage essentially shuts me down and tells me to stop asking. Hell, he won't even tell me if they loved me or if I was abandoned or anything! So tell me how I'm supposed to be able to trust someone like that!"

Sasuke frowned and said, "Damn. A child deserves to know who his parents are, or at the very least that they loved him. At least I got to spend time with my family before they were all killed. You never got that opportunity. That really makes it hard to trust the Hokage if he's willing to do things like that."

"Tell me about it. Just what else is he hiding, I wonder?" Karin said, sounding suspicious of the entire thing. "And you had to learn the truth about your burden from a traitor? That's just wrong."

"Yep. But the traitor's been dealt with. I kicked his ass. But when I asked why he hadn't told me...the Hokage claimed that I wasn't ready to know about my burden yet. He wanted me to have a 'normal childhood'. You have no idea how much I wanted to just leap over his desk and throttle the asshole for that."

"If he wanted you to live a normal childhood, he wouldn't have let people find out you were the Kyuubi jinchuriki. Besides that, simply being a jinchuriki guaranteed you weren't going to have a 'normal' childhood." Karin said, sounding pretty furious at the Hokage in that moment.

Sasuke nodded in agreement with this statement before something dawned on her. "Wait, you hinted before that that Fu girl was 'different'. Is she a jinchuriki like you?"

Naruto nodded and said, "Her, Yugito, and Gaara are all jinchuriki. Gaara's jinchuriki has driven him to the point of insanity, I'm afraid. As for Fu? She seems nice enough, but, and I'm sorry to say this, you didn't have a chance in Hell of beating her. Hell, she'd probably wipe the floor with me too, despite me housing the strongest of the bijuu."

"She's that strong? Damn." Sasuke said, sounding genuinely surprised. "But...why are so many jinchuriki participating in the Chunin Exams? Is something going on that we don't know about?"

Karin frowned in thought for a moment before she said, "Maybe someone is planning an invasion during the Exams at some point? It would make sense for some of Konoha's enemies to attack at some point, probably at a moment where they can get at the largest number of people: the finals. The problem is, who's planning to invade and which of the jinchuriki are going to be the threats?"

Naruto frowned and shook his head. "I think Fu's just here for a genuine chance at becoming a Chunin of her village. I'm pretty sure that Gaara is going to be a threat, being unstable as he is. If I had to fathom a guess, I'd say he's the trump card that whoever's invading plans to use. Yugito? I'm not sure. It depends on if Kumo's in on the invasion. But again, my money's on Gaara being the big threat."

Sasuke nodded. "Makes sense. Sending a psychopathic jinchuriki out to kill as many people as possible and probably lay waste to the village itself? Yeah, that sounds like a good plan to me. As for Kumo and Yugito? Hell if I know, but I think we should prepare for them as well, just in case. Problem is, how the hell are we supposed to get strong enough to fight them?"

Before Naruto could reply, Karin allowed a chakra chain to extend from her arm and wiggled it around a bit. "If need be, I can try to use these chains to restrain them for a while, but it's not a permanent solution. Compared to other Uzumaki's, my chains aren't quite the same. Mine are a bit weaker, but that's probably because I haven't trained anywhere near enough with them before now. I've always focused more on fuinjutsu and medical techniques. I've preferred to act in a supportive role over all other possibilities. But...if there's a danger to your home and I can help in some way, then I'll start training harder than ever before so I can help."

Naruto smiled at Karin and said, "Thank you, Karin-chan. If you need help, I'll gladly train with you. I'm planning to do some training of my own during the month. The Kyuubi has agreed to train me for the finals, so I'm planning to work really hard so I don't let him down. I want to become strong enough to protect those dear to me. And...I have a few people here in the village that I genuinely care about, so I'll fight to keep them and this village safe, even if I don't care much for a lot of the people here."

Sasuke quirked a brow and asked, "The Kyuubi's actually agreed to train you? How'd that happen?"

"Kyuubi-sensei is actually pretty nice, once you get to know him. Besides that, he's been better to me than a lot of people here. So, despite what others might advise, I've placed my trust in Kyuubi-sensei and am willing to work hard so I don't let him down."

Sasuke thought about it for a time before she decided to ask, "Think you and the Kyuubi could help me with my training? I want to get stronger, though it's not necessarily for a pure reason like yours is. I want the strength to one day kill my brother...but...I also want to be there for you, Naruto. You're my only real friend and I want to hold onto that bond."

Naruto frowned in thought for a moment before he closed his eyes and questioned internally, _Kurama-sensei? What do you think?_

_**"While she seems like a typical Uchiha most of the time, she has proven that she's a bit different when compared to them. For one thing, she genuinely seems to care for you, rather than only for herself and her own interests. Most Uchiha only gave a damn about themselves. Best examples of why I hate the Uchiha so much are Madara Uchiha and that Madara wannabe on the night I attacked your village. That damn wannabe ripped me out of your mother and used his blasted eye to control me, using me to try and destroy the village. And yes, before you ask, I know **_**exactly**_** who your parents are. If that old monkey doesn't tell you tomorrow morning when you see him, I'll tell you then. Just know that I'm not fond of either of your parents."**_

_**"Anyways, I got off topic for a bit there. In answer to your inquiry about whether or not I'll train the Uchiha next to you, then I will. If only to make sure that she stays loyal to you and doesn't end up stabbing you in the back later, like so many Uchiha are wont to do. Warn her, though, that if she betrays our trust in her, that I will help you put her down like a sick dog. Do you understand me, Kit?"**_

_Of course, Kurama-sensei. And...thanks. If the Hokage doesn't tell me about my parents tomorrow morning, then I'll definitely be asking you. Sorry if it brings up any bad memories, though._ Naruto replied before looking into Sasuke's eyes. "He said he'll train you, but...if you betray us, you'll wish you hadn't."

Sasuke nodded slowly and said, "Then I'd best not betray you two. Besides, you're my friend, there's no way I would betray you for anything. I...do remember what Orochimaru said to me, that I'd eventually come to him for power, but I have no intentions of ever doing such a thing. Not so long as I have you here, Naruto."

Naruto blushed a bit and scratched at the tip of his nose as he looked away from her. "T-Thanks, Sasuke. I appreciate that. And...sorry if I've ever come across to you as a pain in the ass or something. I'll say it now that I've always been kind of envious of you, but I never hated you or anything like that."

Frowning a bit, Sasuke shook her head and said, "It's fine, Naruto. Yes, you could be a little annoying at times, but...I was actually kind of envious of you too. You were so outgoing and everything and I just couldn't help but want to be more open, like you were. I understand that you were wearing a mask, but still…"

"Heh, first time anyone's said something like that to me before. Sounds like we're pretty good for one another, huh?" Naruto questioned, chuckling a bit afterwards.

Sasuke found herself blushing at that and quickly looked away. "Y-Yeah, I guess we are, aren't we?"

Karin found herself smirking at this as she said, "You're going to make me feel jealous, flirting the way you are."

Naruto blinked in confusion and asked, "Huh? Who's flirting?"

Sasuke, on the other hand, blushed deeper and shouted out, "We're not flirting! Besides, we're both guys! No thank you."

Karin smirked wider as she looked Sasuke over. "Nope. From where I'm sitting, you're a bonafide woman, Sasuke. So I say you're flirting."

The fourteen year-old Uchiha looked herself over before crying comically. "Right...I forgot. Damn it."

Naruto still looked confused for a time until what he had said earlier fully registered in his brain. Once he understood the implications of what he was saying, he began to blush and found it very hard to look at either girl.

Upon seeing this, Karin giggled and said, "See? You were totally flirting!"

Sasuke and Naruto released heavy sighs and hung their heads, as they couldn't think of anything to say in response to that. So, with no words being said, they went about eating their ramen until they had finished. When Sasuke reached for her wallet, Naruto shook his head. "I've got it. I eat here all the time, so I don't mind paying for your meal too, Sasuke. Same for you, Karin-chan."

Sasuke smiled at her friend and nodded her head in acceptance of this. "Thanks Naruto. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Naruto nodded and offered his friend a smile. "Of course. Good night Sasuke."

Karin decided to tease them again. "You _can_ call her Sasuke-chan, you know?"

"No he can't!" Sasuke exclaimed, a bright blush forming on her face again. "Ugh, I'm just going to go. Good night!"

As Sasuke ran off, a bright blush on her face, Naruto and Karin couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "You really shouldn't tease us so much, Karin-chan. Yeah, Sasuke's hot now, but still…"

"There you go calling her hot again. I'm surprised you two haven't kissed yet." Karin teased mercilessly.

Naruto blushed again and looked away, unable to face his clanmate right now. "It's not like that between us. Before Sasuke was turned into a girl, we were kinda close, but now? It's kind of awkward. It's certainly a different experience compared to anything else I've been through before."

"Imagine how it must feel for Sasuke. Poor guy went from being a boy to a girl pretty much instantly. It's going to take a while for her to get used to the change, but I'm sure once she's come to terms with it, everything will be better for her. Yeah, it'll still be a little weird, but I think she'll be pretty happy after a while." Karin said before she rose from her stool and stepped outside of the ramen shack.

Once Naruto had paid and joined Karin outside, he gently took her hand in his own and the two began to walk together back towards his place. Upon arriving, he was shocked to see Kin Tsuchi standing in front of his apartment, as if waiting for him. "Wait, aren't you the girl I let go back in the forest? What are you doing here?"

Kin offered him a smile and said, "I told the Hokage everything I know about Orochimaru and his plans. Then...I asked if I could move in with you. You're the only person I know in Konoha besides that Sasuke person, and I'd rather be around someone I trust, you know? Also, my name is Kin Tsuchi. You're Naruto Uzumaki, right? And who's your friend?"

Karin couldn't help but notice the look sent her way by the ex-Oto kunoichi. _So, she's trying to determine if I'll get in the way of her building a romantic relationship with Naruto-kun, hm? Interesting._ "I'm Karin Uzumaki, and I happen to like Naruto-kun. We've already kissed too." she said with a smirk on her face.

The ravenette frowned deeply at this and asked, "But you're not in an actual relationship yet, are you?"

The redhead frowned as well and said, "Not quite yet, but if I have anything to say about it, we will be soon. What? Feeling _jealous_?"

Kin was practically growling now. "You'll be the jealous one when I snatch him up for myself." she said before walking up to Naruto and wrapping her arms around his free arm, bringing his arm snugly between her breasts. "I saw him first, after all."

Naruto, upon realizing that he was stuck in the middle of a territorial dispute between two beauties, couldn't help but blush deeply to himself while an awkward smile formed on his face. "L-Ladies? Calm down. Please?"

Karin glared at Naruto for a moment before returning her gaze to Kin. "Maybe so, but, as I said, I've had his first kiss. I'd say we have something far more special between us than your feeble connection with him."

Growling at the annoying redhead, Kin tugged on Naruto's arm and said, "Come on Naruto-kun, let's go get some sleep. Maybe we can even cuddle. It's bound to be nicer than spending time with a flat-chested bimbo like her."

Eyes twitching, Karin turned Naruto's head to face her and she leaned in, kissing him passionately on the lips, causing him to blush badly while Kin was practically frothing at the mouth. When the kiss ended, Karin licked her lips before saying, "I'm the _only_ woman he needs. Better than some skank from a weak ninja village like yours."

Clutching tighter to Naruto's arm, Kin growled out, "I'm glad to be away from that pathetic village full of monsters! Now I'm here, and I plan to make Naru-kun _mine_. Nobody's going to come between us."

Naruto winced as it felt like they were going to pull his arms out of their sockets. "Girls! Enough already! I'm not some rope you use in a tug-o'-war game! Karin-chan, I like you. I like you a lot! But at the same time, I want to get to know Kin-chan as well. I want you both to get along, okay? Anyways, I'm kind of tired, so can we all just go in and get some sleep? I'll let you girls have the bed. I'll sleep on the couch. Okay?"

Both girls looked at each other before nodding in agreement over something. "If we're all going to sleep together in the same apartment, then we'll just have to share the bed, all three of us. We're going to cuddle and that'll be that. No arguments!" Kin said.

Naruto sighed, but acquiesced to their request in the end. And so, together, they ventured into Naruto's bedroom where the girls quickly stripped down to their unmentionables, leaving Naruto a blushing, stuttering mess. When they ordered him to strip as well, he was nervous to comply, but he eventually stripped down to just his boxers and climbed into bed, the girls lying on either side of him, both clinging to his arms and pressing themselves against him in such a way that he was having a hard time keeping a certain part of his anatomy down. _I'm not sure whether I love my life right now or hate it._

_**The Next Morning**_

As Naruto awoke the next morning, he could immediately feel a few somethings brushing up against his morning wood. A deep blush quickly found its way onto his face as he tried to figure out some plan to get out of this awkward situation before anything strange could happen. Sadly, before he could so much as move an inch, both of the teenage beauties beside him began to stir awake, their hands brushing against his rock-hard erection. Upon realizing what they were touching, both young women blushed and quickly backed away from Naruto.

"S-Sorry Naruto-kun!" Kin exclaimed, sounding pretty embarrassed. _He's pretty big. Makes me wonder how good he is with it._ She thought with a perverse giggle.

Karin was having similar thoughts and was giggling as well. "Looks like someone's happy to see us." she teased.

Naruto covered his face with his hands and let out a deep groan. "Please, don't tease me. Just let me get showered and dressed so we can be on our way to see the Hokage. I'd like to get that stupid meeting out of the way." he said, trying not to look at the two scantily-clad women.

Kin smirked as she looked at him, but she decided to spare him some 'misery', if you could even call it that. So, climbing out of bed, she put her clothes back on and blew him a kiss. "I'm going to go next door and take care of a few things. Then I plan to come with you to see the Hokage. Try not to miss me too much while I'm gone." she teased with a wink before she left the room.

Karin, not wanting Kin to get one up on her, leaned in close to Naruto and whispered in his ear, "Want me to join you in the shower, Naru-kun? I could wash your back for you."

Before Karin knew it, Naruto was out of his bed, through the door and into his bathroom. Seeing how he reacted, Karin couldn't help but giggle to herself hysterically. "Oh Naru-kun, you're just too easy to tease."

_**Hokage's Office**_

Naruto, Kin, Karin, and Sasuke were all standing before the Third Hokage in his office. The reason for Sasuke's presence is really quite simple: she had been on her way to Naruto's apartment so they could train together when she came across Naruto with two lovely ladies on his arms. Strangely enough, she felt a foreign feeling when she saw them together with Naruto, but she couldn't place what this feeling was, exactly. So, pushing that aside, she chose to walk with them to the Hokage's tower and then his office, willing to wait to train until after the meeting.

Looking around at the four in his office, Hiruzen frowned for a moment and said, "I was under the impression that it would just be the two of us, Naruto-kun."

Naruto shook his head and said, "I trust them, Hokage-sama. I'm sure that whatever you wanted to talk to me about will be safe with them. So what's up?"

The Third Hokage looked around at everyone for a moment before he ordered his Anbu to leave them. Afterwards, he activated a silencing seal to keep those outside from hearing what they were about to discuss. "Very well, Naruto-kun. As you no doubt know by now, you are a member of the Uzumaki clan...one of the very last in existence. So I'll talk to you about them first, and then I'll get into the meat of the conversation afterwards."

Seeing Naruto and the others remaining silent, Hiruzen nodded his head in thanks before he began. "Naruto-kun, the Uzumaki clan were highly recognizable by their signature red hair. Almost all Uzumaki had red hair and, well...the majority of them were quite, erm…'feisty', let's say. Uzumaki's could have wild temperaments and it made approaching some of them a tad difficult. However, they were masters of fuinjutsu, the Sealing Arts. They were also known for their large chakra capacities and for having such dense chakra that they could manifest certain chakra constructs. Finally, the Uzumaki's had their own village, Uzushiogakure. They were allied with Konoha and...we failed them in their time of need. They were attacked by a joint alliance between Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure. Even now I don't know just how they gained access to the isles of Uzushiogakure, as the Uzumaki's had such a powerful barrier in place, and they had a natural defense in the form of raging whirlpools that surrounded the island. Personally? I think someone betrayed them, and I've got a damn good guess as to who it was, too. If I had proof, I'd nail the son-of-a-bitch right now for everything he's done, but he's so good at covering his tracks, it's ridiculous."

Naruto frowned at this and asked, "Who do you think it was that sold out my clan? And why weren't we taught about the Uzumaki clan in class? Why did I have to wait to find out until I met Karin-chan?"

Hiruzen sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose out of a mixture of frustration and tiredness. "His name is Danzo Shimura. He's a warhawk and claims he's a patriot of Konoha. He claims to have the best interests of the village in mind and that everything he does is for Konoha. Problem is? Everything he does only benefits himself. He's a greedy, evil son-of-a-bitch and he's done nothing but cause problems not just for me, but for the village as a whole. If he had his way, we'd always be at war until either our village was destroyed, or every other village finally submitted to us and accepted us as the superior village. Suffice it to say, Danzo is NOT a good guy."

"As for why you didn't learn about the Uzumaki clan in the academy curriculum? The answer to that is quite simple...and highly disappointing. Danzo, Homura, and Koharu helped pass a motion to wipe our affiliation with Uzushio from the records. They made sure that the Uzumaki's would never be remembered in our village, and yet everyone still wears their symbol on their flak jackets. This decision of theirs only cements the possibility of Danzo being involved in Uzushio's downfall."

Naruto scowled at this and said, "If you don't manage to get any evidence on him soon, then I might as well just kill him before he can cause anymore harm. I'm **not** pleased to hear this, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen sighed and nodded his head sadly. "I understand, Naruto-kun. However, I have more to tell you. I...know I should have told you this information a long time ago, but…" Sighing again, he closed his eyes and said, "Naruto-kun...your parents were Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. And yes, _that_ Minato."

Naruto's eyes went wide as he immediately looked at the Fourth Hokage's portrait hanging on the wall nearby. "M-My own father...sealed the Kyuubi into me?! He cursed me to this life of utter hell?! Why?!"

The Third sighed and shook his head sadly. "Naruto-kun...I can't begin to explain the reason behind Minato's decision. I'm not him, and I cannot understand the way he thinks...or rather, _thought_. However, I am quite positive that your mother would **never** have wanted to seal the Kyuubi within you. She's the type of person that would rather have taken the beast with her to the grave. I'm pretty sure Minato convinced her somehow that sealing the Kyuubi within you was the best thing they could do at the time. I know he would have preferred for the village to see you as a hero, but...I'm sad to say, your father was a naive fool sometimes and placed far, _far_ too much faith in the villagers."

Sighing again, Hiruzen looked up at the ceiling and said, "Unfortunately, only an Uzumaki can safely contain the Kyuubi. And...you were the only healthy Uzumaki in the village at the time. Your mother was dying after the Kyuubi escaped its seal. I highly suspect that there was foul play involved and someone found where they were hiding out while Kushina gave birth to you. Whoever it was must have done something and extracted the Kyuubi from your mother. I don't know why anyone would do such a thing, or who would have such a vendetta against Konoha that they'd unleash that beast on our village, but…"

"Hmph. Whatever the case, what's done is done. What I really want you to hold onto when you think about them is that those two loved you very much. They were so excited to give birth to you. They were positively giddy at the thought of raising you and being a happy family. I wish they could have been here to do just that. But...they aren't. All because of the events of that night."

Naruto remained silent for a while, just trying to process everything he had just learned. Before he could utter a word, however, Sasuke spoke up. "So why are you only just now telling Naruto about his parents? Shouldn't this conversation have taken place ages ago?"

The whiskered youth looked Hiruzen in the eyes, waiting to hear his answer to that question. "In truth? I didn't feel Naruto-kun was ready to hear such information. I worried that he might go shouting it from the rooftops that he's the son of the Fourth. Can you imagine the shitstorm that would have followed such a declaration? No. I decided to keep such information to myself, waiting for the day that Naruto-kun would be ready for such information."

"Did you really have such little faith in me, _Hokage-sama_?" Naruto bit out harshly. "I've never been stupid. I wouldn't have gone around screaming that to the people of the village. They'd claim I was lying and probably beat me worse than usual for daring to spit out such a lie. And before you say anything, that act of idiocy and smiling all the time? That was my mask. I'm a lot smarter than I've let on, and it bothers me that you couldn't see past that. You should have told me that my parents loved me, at the very least."

Hiruzen frowned at hearing this and asked, "How come you never confided all of this in me, Naruto-kun? If you had just been honest with me…"

Naruto scoffed at this and asked, "Like you've been honest with me? I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, but I knew you were lying to my face every single time I asked about my parents. On top of that, you lied about why the people hated me so much. You claimed not to know, when you knew very well what was going on. How could I trust you?! You claim to have had my best interests in mind, but you clearly didn't!"

The Third Hokage sighed and shook his head. "Regardless," he said, trying to change the topic, "what's done is done. I was going to tell you that I believe it's time you received your inheritance from your parents. This includes their home in the clan district. I'll escort you there now so you know where it is and can get moved in. Kin and Karin have already expressed an interest in moving in with you before, so if you're willing to have them, there is plenty of room for the both of them."

Naruto decided to just let the matter drop, since it was obvious that Hiruzen didn't want to talk about his failures any longer. Karin and Kin, however, narrowed their eyes at the Hokage and couldn't help but feel disgust just being around him. Sasuke, meanwhile, wasn't sure what to think. After all, if he would hide such things from Naruto, could he be hiding even more that she didn't know about? She certainly had her suspicions…

Still, they followed after the Third until they reached Naruto's new home. Staring at it through the gate, he couldn't help but be in awe. "Wow." he breathed out. "It's amazing."

"That it is, Naruto-kun. Now, there is a seal on the gate that's attuned to the blood of your parents. They left it open, in a sense, for your blood to work as well. They included that after it was confirmed that Kushina was pregnant with you. So, simply use a bit of your blood to open the gate and we can go inside. You'll have to key in Karin and Kin so they can have access as well, so you'll definitely want to begin studying your parents' fuinjutsu books." Hiruzen explained with a smile.

"Makes sense. Alrighty then, here we go." Naruto said before he bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood. Smearing a bit of blood on the seal, he watched as the gate swung open, allowing them entrance into his compound.

Hiruzen led them up to the door and withdrew a key from his pocket. Unlocking the front door, he allowed the Genin to enter before he did. Once inside, he looked around with a nostalgic smile on his face. "It's been quite some time since I was last here. It still looks the same as it did before they passed away."

Karin looked around and said, "It looks like seals are in place to prevent dust from accumulating and to withstand the passage of time. Pretty impressive work. I wonder though, which of them designed these seals?"

The Hokage chuckled a bit and said, "They both did. Minato-kun and Kushina-chan were both seal masters and often worked together when designing new seals to be used."

The redhead nodded in understanding before she left to go and explore, Kin following shortly after. Naruto looked around at what he could immediately see, and couldn't help but notice a few pictures hanging on one of the walls nearby. There were pictures of his parents, and in some of them he noticed a white-haired man that seemed to be rather tall as compared to most people. Frowning at this, he turned to Hiruzen and asked, "Who's that guy with my parents?"

Hiruzen looked at the person in the photos and shook his head sadly. "That, m'boy, is Jiraiya, one of my old students. He also happens to be your godfather. He may not have been there for you growing up, but he does send a monthly allowance for you."

Naruto clenched his fists tight and asked, "I have a godfather? And he's never bothered to come see me even ONCE?! I don't care if he's the one sending me money, the least he could have done is come let me know that somebody fucking cared about me!"

The aged Hokage sighed and said, "I understand, Naruto-kun. Unfortunately, part of the problem is the fact that he runs this village's spy network. But that doesn't excuse his negligence whenever he was actually here in the village. I tried to advise him to see you from time to time, but he never did. And for that, I am sorry."

"Let me guess, he'd rather spend his time doing something else, wouldn't he?" Naruto questioned irritably. "Screw his godson, he had more important things to do than make sure his godson was loved and grew up properly. Well screw him! I don't need someone like that in my life!"

Hiruzen sighed again. "You know those books you've seen Kakashi and I read? Jiraiya is the author of those books. His favorite thing to do is peep on women in the hot springs. I do believe that whenever he's been here in the village, that's where he's always gone after reporting to me. So, yes, I do believe that he felt that was more important than seeing you. Again, I am sorry, Naruto-kun. I should have insisted harder that he see you, but…"

"It's not your fault he'd rather be a peeping tom than a good godfather. At least you tried." Naruto said. "You're not perfect, and you've certainly made mistakes, but you _tried_ on some level."

The Hokage gave Naruto a small smile and said, "If you'd like to meet him, I have ordered him to return to remove that seal from your friend, Tenten. I plan to keep him here in the village for a while."

Naruto shook his head. "No. If he can't make the time to come see me, then I don't need him." Sighing, Naruto looked into Hiruzen's eyes and said, "Kakashi has been a negligent teacher, Hokage-sama. He focused primarily on Sasuke and ignored Sakura and me. All he's taught the two of us is the tree-climbing exercise. He's also tried to drill in us the importance of teamwork, but…"

Sasuke sighed and spoke up at this point. "Sakura's been the big disappointment there. She'd rather fantasize about me and try to get in my good graces by beating on Naruto and putting him down, thinking it would please me. Sakura refuses to work with Naruto and I always refused to cooperate with her. Naruto and I can work together alright, but I'll admit I've been a pain to work with. Still, we're capable of working together when we needed to. Still, I have to say that when you assigned us to Team 7 to work under Kakashi...you made a mistake, Hokage-sama. I really don't think Kakashi's sensei material. He just doesn't care."

"Is he now? I expected him to take training the three of you far more seriously, but if you truly feel that he's failed you as a sensei, then…" Sighing, Hiruzen rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment. "Ugh. I truly thought he would be good for you. And I thought the three of you would become a great team, but…"

Taking a moment to think on it, Hiruzen shook his head and said, "I'll have a talk with Kakashi. I'd very much like to see how he justifies his negligence as a sensei. I'm disappointed that he hasn't done anything to snap Sakura out of her fangirl tendencies. She's turned out to be one big disappointment. So has Ino Yamanaka for that matter. I truly believed that she and her teammates would prove to be just as capable as their parents were. But…"

Naruto sighed and shook his head. "Yes, she's just as much of a fangirl as Sakura is. I highly doubt she's taken her training all that seriously. That and the two of them are dieting, which isn't very smart, especially if they want to become capable kunoichi."

Groaning, the aged Hokage shook his head in disappointment. "Looks like I need to have a talk with my son as well. Damn it." Sighing, he looked at Naruto before he walked over to the nearby table and pulled out some scrolls and letters. Placing them upon the table, he turned back to Naruto and said, "Those scrolls contain your inheritance. The letters were left for you by your parents. I'll leave you to it. I need to have a talk with a few Jonin and see what the hell their excuses are for their failures. Take care, Naruto-kun."

Naruto watched as the Hokage left his home before he turned to stare at the items left behind for him. Before he could peruse their contents, Sasuke tapped him on the shoulder. Turning to look at her, he saw her fidgeting in place nervously, unable to look him in the eyes. "Sasuke? What's up?"

Building up her nerves, Sasuke looked into Naruto's eyes with a small, barely noticeable blush on her face. "Naruto...I'm tired of living on my own in the Uchiha compound, in the house where my parents died. It's lonely and all it does is bring back all kinds of memories that I don't want to continue reliving. So...I, um...Kami this is harder than I thought it would be." Sighing, Sasuke closed her eyes and said, "Please let me live with you!"

Naruto blinked a couple times as he tried to register what Sasuke had just requested. When it finally pieced together in his mind, he blushed and looked anywhere but at her. Scratching lightly at the tip of his nose, he said, "Um...sure. I don't have a problem with that. It certainly looks like I've got plenty of room here, so I don't see anything wrong with your request. But, are you sure? Knowing what you do about me now, you have to know that the people won't take you living with me very well."

Sasuke scowled at this and flicked her friend in the nose. "Do you think I care about what they think? All they do is try to suck up to me and it's annoying as hell. If they try to convince me to move out, I'll just tell them to fuck off. I like you, Naruto. You're my best friend and I'd feel better if I stayed here with you than living on my own a moment longer. So if you're willing to put off reading those letters for a bit, let's go get my things so I can get moved in."

"Sure. Just let me ask Karin-chan something real quick." Naruto replied before he prepared to go off in search of Karin. He didn't need to leave the room, however, as both Karin and Kin came into the room just seconds later.

"This isn't a normal house, it's way too big! It's like a damn mansion!" Kin exclaimed excitedly. "I can just tell I'm going to love it here."

Naruto chuckled a bit and nodded his head in agreement. "I'm looking forward to living here as well. It's a big step up from where I used to live. That apartment was a horrible place to live."

"Speaking of your apartment, we need to go get everything packed up and moved in here." Karin said. "Then we need to get Kin and me added to the security system so we can come and go freely."

"Speaking of which, I was hoping you could help me figure out the seal so we _can_ link you three into the security system. Right now, without training in fuinjutsu, I have no idea how to do that." Naruto said a bit awkwardly. "I was also hoping you could help me learn fuinjutsu. My parents were obviously skilled in that art, so I'd like to become even better than them at it."

Karin smiled at him and nodded her head. "Of course I'll help! As for altering the security seals to allow all of us here entry and exit to your lovely estate, that should be easy enough to do. Just leave it to me Naru-kun!"

"Thank you. Now, let's go get everything packed so we can officially get moved in here."

Everyone nodded in agreement before they left the house, locking it with the key that Hiruzen had left behind with the letters and scrolls. Together, they set off for Naruto's apartment first, as he wouldn't have all that much to move as compared to Sasuke.

As they walked through the village in the direction of Naruto's apartment, they couldn't help but notice the looks the villagers were sending their way. They also began to hear what they were saying, and it caused all of them to scowl.

Naruto sighed and shook his head in disappointment. "And now they believe I've enslaved you girls and turned you into my pleasure slaves or whatever. How stupid can these people get?"

"Very, apparently." Sasuke said, shooting a nasty glare at some of the villagers to make them shut up. "It looks like they don't know I've turned into a girl, yet. I wonder how they'd react to _that_ news."

Karin giggled a bit and said, "You could just shout it out from the rooftops that you're a girl now, if you want to. Who knows? It might just work."

Sasuke sighed and shook her head. "I'd really rather not. Who knows how these idiots will react if I were to suddenly shout something like that at random?"

Kin giggled and nodded her head in agreement. "Knowing how stupid people can be, they'd probably be in denial and claim you were slandering Sasuke's 'good name'. Unless it's thrust right in their faces by the people in charge, they'll never believe you've turned into a girl."

The young Uchiha sighed and shook her head. "I'll never understand how people can be _that_ damn stupid."

"They just are. Let's hurry up and go get our things packed so we can move into my new home together. I don't want to deal with any of their bullshit today." Naruto said as he quickened his pace, leaving the others to hurry after him.

"They really bother you sometimes, don't they Naruto-kun?" Kin questioned, sounding fairly upset.

Naruto shut his eyes for a moment before saying, "Sometimes...yes they do. I can usually just brush their crap off, but there are times where it just gets to me. Know what I mean?"

"I've never personally experienced something like that, but I'd like to say I understand. I am sorry you've had to deal with all of this before." Karin said as she hugged onto one of his arms, holding it snugly between her budding breasts.

"Thanks, but it's okay. Well, as okay as it can be, I suppose." Naruto said with a shrug. "We should hurry up though. I'd like to see what my parents left for me and I'm also looking forward to getting some training in." And with that, everyone nodded in agreement before they hurried off towards Naruto's apartment.

_**The Next Day**_

A large, white-haired man with a horned headband with the kanji for Oil on it, was currently standing in the Hokage's office, looking at Tenten curiously. His sensei, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had explained the situation to him, and the more he looked at the seal hidden under Tenten's hair, the more his scowl deepened. "Tenten, I'm going to need you to sit perfectly still. In order to remove this seal on your head, I need to inscribe seals on your face and chest. The process could take a while, so, despite how you may feel, I need you to remove your top and allow me access to your skin unhampered by your clothes."

Tenten frowned at this and asked, "Do you really need me to take my top off? Can't you, y'know, just inscribe the seals on my face or something?"

Jiraiya shook his head and said, "No, Tenten. This is no time to be embarrassed. I've seen plenty of women without their tops before, so seeing you without yours won't affect me, I promise. Besides that, when it comes to seals like this, I'm a practiced professional. I'd never delve into some perverse habit if something like this is involved."

Nodding slowly, Tenten slowly removed her top and then her bra, a deep blush forming on her face. She couldn't look at either of the two men in the office and instead shut her eyes tight. "J-Just...get it over with."

Jiraiya sighed and slowly nodded his head as he went about drawing the seals on her skin. Seeing as he highly doubted she'd be willing to have her hair shaved off, practically leaving her bald, he needed to inscribe seals on her face, over her eyes, her nose, past her lips, and down to the center of her chest right between her breasts. By the time he was finished, he put one hand to the seal between her breasts and then his other on a seal he had placed on her forehead. "Here goes nothing. You're likely going to feel some pain, but I need you to push through it. Ready?"

Right as Tenten went to say that she was ready, Jiraiya surprised her by activating the counter-seals. Wincing in agony as they went to work, she soon slumped forward against Jiraiya.

Finishing up, Jiraiya watched as the seal atop her head was destroyed. Once it was gone, Jiraiya picked up Tenten's bra and shirt and asked for one of the female Anbu hiding in various locations throughout the office to dress Tenten again. After she was, Jiraiya let out a sigh and shook his head in disbelief. "To think her parents would go so far to ensure Naruto didn't have any friends, even in her. I wonder how she'll react to this?"

"We're about to find out. It looks like she's coming to." Hiruzen said as he watched Tenten slowly sit up and rub at her eyes. "How do you feel, Tenten?"

Tenten groaned a bit and said, "I feel...different. I can't really describe it. But...I remember the face of that boy from the orphanage now. I even remember his name. What I don't understand is why my parents put such a seal on me. They told me it was for my own good, but it hurt when they put it on. Why would they want me to forget Naruto-kun?"

Jiraiya frowned and said, "For a reason we can't say. If Naruto wants to tell you himself, that's his choice. However, out of respect for him, we can't tell you or anyone else about his secret."

The brunette frowned at this, but nodded her head in understanding. "Alright. I'll just have to ask him about it then."

Hiruzen sighed and shook his head. "I'd rather you just let the matter drop. It's his secret to keep, and very few people your age know the secret."

Tenten shook her head and said, "I think I have the right to know why my parents would go so far to ensure I forgot about my best friend. But...that does raise the question of what you're going to do about my parents. After all, isn't doing something like this illegal?"

Jiraiya nodded. "Yes, it is. They forced a seal on you without your consent and harmed you in the long run. Sensei, what are you going to do?"

The Third said, "I'm going to have them arrested, and after that? Well, I'm not too sure. I don't think this warrants their death, but at the same time, one can't help but wonder what type of punishment is truly appropriate for something like this."

Jiraiya scowled at this and said, "They took away one of Naruto's friends through force! They practically crippled their adopted daughter! I'd say this constitutes as child abuse on some level! I'd throw them away so they could rot in a jail cell for the rest of their lives. If you don't do something about them, _I_ will."

Tenten frowned and said, "Please...don't kill them. They aren't bad people...just…"

Hiruzen sighed and shook his head. "The best I can do is exactly as Jiraiya-kun said: lock them up and throw away the key. It doesn't matter how good they've been to you, they committed a crime and need to pay the price."

The brunette sighed, but nodded her head in understanding. "I know. Um...is there any chance I could meet Naruto-kun and see what he's like now? All I've got to go on is my early childhood memories and what little I've seen of him since the beginning of the Chunin Exams, which really wasn't that impressive…"

The Hokage smiled at her and nodded her head. "Of course you can. I warn you that he's got three young ladies living with him, one of which is the recently transformed Sasuke Uchiha. Before you get the wrong idea, he's not some lecherous pervert. He's actually a very well-behaved young man, and he's proven to be far smarter than even I expected. And despite everything that he's been through, he's become a fine, young man. I fully expect him to become stronger and stronger in his effort to achieve his dreams and protect those dear to him. I bet he'll surpass me, given enough time, of course."

"You've really got that much faith in him?" Tenten questioned unsurely. "I'll admit, it's impressive that he's made his way through to the finals, but…"

Jiraiya shook his head and said, "Naruto's been dealt a bad hand in life. His sensei has been a neglectful asshole that couldn't be bothered to train Naruto properly, only focusing on that Uchiha boy, or girl now, I suppose. In the academy, he was being sabotaged, though I don't know why sensei didn't do something about that when he _did_ get proof such a thing was happening." At this, Jiraiya glared harshly at Hiruzen before returning his attention to Tenten. "So you see, Naruto's not entirely at fault for his subpar skills as a shinobi. He's had to train himself so far, and you can only get so far without proper guidance. So I plan to approach him soon and invite him to learn under me. I just hope he accepts and doesn't try to do his on his own. He needs guidance if he wants to be able to take on the other Chunin hopefuls in the tournament."

"Really? Naruto-kun's sensei really hasn't trained them? How the hell did they get through the first two tests without any real training? Are you sure about all of that? 'Cause that only makes me more suspicious of what this secret of his could be." Tenten questioned as she folded her arms across her chest.

Hiruzen sighed and nodded his head. "Yes. Kakashi-kun hasn't been a good sensei to his team. He did nothing to curb Sakura's fangirl tendencies. He didn't reprimand her for her abuse of Naruto-kun. In fact, the only one he bothered to teach at all was Sasuke. I have a feeling he's doing that in an effort to honor his late teammate's memory somehow, but he's failed tremendously as a Jonin sensei. I'm considering removing him as Team 7's sensei and putting someone more capable in charge. I'm also thinking about removing Sakura Haruno from that team and swapping her for someone else. However, I can't seem to figure out who to replace her with and which team I should put her on."

Tenten frowned at this and shook her head in disbelief. "She's a mockery of a kunoichi. She makes us real kunoichi look bad. I'd simply remove her from the ninja corps. entirely, but the choice is yours, Hokage-sama. Now, can someone please take me to Naruto-kun? I want to meet him."

Jiraiya nodded. "Have to say, I agree with you. Enough about that, though. Let's get you over to Naruto-kun's new home. You're going to be surprised." he said, smirking at her as he led her out of the office.

Once he was alone again, Hiruzen rubbed at the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Jiraiya-kun, you're only going to piss Naruto off more. He wasn't exactly happy when he learned about you…"

_**Naruto**_

Naruto was currently sparring with Sasuke, as per Kurama's suggestion. He apparently wanted to see what areas the two of them needed to improve in, and watched from a Kyuubi-enhanced Shadow Clone as the two of them duked it out.

Yes, Kurama had instructed Naruto in how to make a Shadow Clone 'puppet' of sorts for Kurama to inhabit and instruct the two of them. Well, four now, as Karin and Kin had both asked him for guidance as well. _**Damn puppy dog eyes. Whoever invented that cursed technique had best be rotting in Hell.**_

After a while, Kurama called a stop to their spar and looked between the both of them. "**Alright, I do believe I've seen enough, at least in the form of taijutsu. Naruto, we're going to need to get you a proper form of taijutsu that fits your battle style better. Right now you're pretty much a brawler without much real form to speak of. Sasuke? You rely too much on countering an opponent's move, and then when you get frustrated, you seem to throw out all form of combat in effort to strike your opponent by any means necessary. So we'll need to work on your patience and your temper before we really get into the juicy bits of training.**"

Nodding in understanding, they were about to speak when they heard a strange humming sound. Karin, recognizing it for what it was, said, "It looks like we've got company. They're waiting at the front gate."

Kurama sighed and said, "**Go greet your guests. Once they're gone, I expect you four to work even harder to make up for time lost.**"

"Of course, Kurama-sensei!" they each shouted before they walked off to go and greet their guests. However, as they neared the gate, Naruto began to recognize the man standing there and couldn't help but clench his fists tight. "Jiraiya? That is your name, right?" he asked as he opened the gate.

Jiraiya nodded and with a smile, said "Yep, that's me! Jiraiya the Great! How've you been, kid?"

Twitching angrily, Naruto began to chuckle darkly as he said, "I'm going to kick your ass, damn it."

The white-haired man blinked at this and asked, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. What did you say?"

Glaring into Jiraiya's eyes, he didn't speak. Instead, he punched the older man in the dick as hard as he could, watching as he crumpled to the ground in the fetal position as he cradled his jewels. "I said I'm going to make you suffer you wretched jackass!"

Tenten could only blink in shock as she watched all of this unfold. _Just what the hell did I walk into?_

* * *

**A/N - And that's the chapter! There wasn't exactly a lot of action in this chapter, as it was more centered on dialogue and whatnot. Still, I do hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**As you can see, Karin and Kin have become rivals aiming for Naruto's attention. On top of that, Sasuke has moved in with Naruto and is starting to act a little more girlish, whether she realizes it or not.**

**Anyways, I'm exhausted and I can't really think of much else to say. So, hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


End file.
